A.S. Wilcox and Sons Ltd is a company that walks the talk when it comes to their commitment to growing healthy communities from the ground up.

Laura Torpey, their broccolini Team Leader, is making a positive impact through her establishment and ongoing support of Little Labs, an educational charity, which takes science lessons into rural schools in the Franklin region.

“Little Labs’ free science lessons are hands-on, engaging and exciting, with kids benefiting from an in-person learning experience,” says Laura. “Having a subject expert come in, means the teacher can focus on engaging with students and joining in the fun.”

Describing herself as a farm kid from Awhitu Peninsula, Laura has a degree in biomedical science and is now studying agronomy. You might expect that Laura’s love of science was established at school, but that’s not how things happened.

“We didn’t really have science lessons at primary school, which meant no exposure to science until high school in Year 9.

I remember thinking that science is too hard, and science isn’t for girls. Nothing made sense, so I disengaged from it, but I was fortunate to get a passionate science teacher, who took the time to explain things in a different way. That’s when I caught the science bug.”

Laura says her degree covered a range of science-related topics such as genetics, immunology, and biochemistry. “My favourite subject was always microbiology. I find it fascinating to study such tiny things, how they interact with each other and with their environment.”

Partway through her degree, Laura’s younger cousin voiced similar concerns about the lack of dedicated science lessons prior to high school. With her own science knowledge growing by the day and some spare time, Laura volunteered to talk about science with rural primary school kids. “That’s how Little Labs started.”

She came across teachers doing their best but perhaps lacking the resources or time to teach science topics. “It’s a multifaceted issue, especially in smaller rural schools, which may mean students view science an intimidating and daunting subject once they reach high school.”

Laura considered doing a master’s degree then realised her intended biomedical career meant more big city life, yet she was missing rural life massively.

“I moved home to Awhitu to find a job while I finished my last two papers. The job with Wilcox was a great fit right from the start. They were flexible about my university study, and keen to hear about my volunteering work with Little Labs, because it fit with their ‘growing local communities’ ethos.

“I hadn’t considered turning Little Labs into a proper charity until a co-worker suggested it, and I’m glad I followed that advice. As a registered charity, Little Labs has benefited from some MBIE SWEP department funding and donations from various businesses. I’ve been able to create a year-long programme offering weekly or fortnightly lessons for two schools covering Years 0 to 8 (ages 5 to 13). I still volunteer my time to teach and run the programme, but now I have some excellent teaching resources and workbooks.”

Each Little Labs session utilises different forms of learning, such as visual, auditory, hands-on kinaesthetic, and reading, writing and drawing to reinforce the topic for all students. One of the most popular topics is sharks with Laura sourcing real shark jaws for the kids to hold, so they could feel the teeth, look at the species’ differences, and understand how sharks grow replacement teeth.

Another important module is biosecurity. “We talk about why biosecurity is important to protect our economy, the role of border patrol dogs, different kinds of introduced pests, how TB spreads from dead possums to cattle, Psa and how it affected the kiwifruit Industry, kauri dieback disease, and more.”

Laura says the module is well received, with a mix of kids from non-rural families and keen hunting families. “There’s plenty of chatter about pests that the kids themselves help control, and a great example of citizen science and making a difference to their environment.”

Towards the end of the year, Laura arranges career sessions for Years 5 to 8, focussing on primary and construction industries and emergency services. “It’s all about giving things a go and seeing what opportunities are out there.”

Jesse Clark, Technical Horticultural Representative with Fruitfed Supplies in Pukekohe, is impressed with the work that Laura does with Little Labs and how it helps connect the younger generation to future opportunities in the primary sector.

“I can relate to what Laura says about some children missing the opportunity to learn about science,” says Jesse. “It’s great to see the A S Wilcox and Sons team support Laura’s initiatives with Little Labs.”

The Fruitfed Supplies – Wilcox connection dates back many years and covers technical support across an array of vegetable crops, as well as product supply, new product trials and a growing emphasis on biological control methods as fewer synthetic products are using in Wilcox production systems.