Meet Lelia Evans: Founder & Educator
Lelia’s love of hands-on learning and the outdoors have long been ingrained in her life. She learned to garden from her Mom and caught the bug – hands in dirt, daily problem solving and preparing the fruits of one’s labor are true riches to her! With fifteen years of experience as an educator in both the public and private sectors, Lelia brings a passion for working with and mentoring youth. She believes in providing experiential, immersive and hands-on experiences for her students. Most recently she completed ten years of teaching at Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, MA where she served as a Spanish teacher and outdoor educator. Lelia graduated from the University of Vermont’s Farmer Training Program in November 2016 and currently serves on their advisory council. She resides in Stowe, VT and she continues to teach Spanish locally. She’s thrilled to contribute to strengthening Vermont’s food system by fostering the development of young food citizens and stewards of our land. Lelia holds a BA from Colby College and a MA from Middlebury College.
Meet Julia Smith: Educator
Julia’s fondest childhood memories involve digging up worms in her family’s backyard garden and driving her big wheel around the neighborhood at ferocious speeds. This early love of the outdoors and of community, as well as a passion for children’s voices and hands-on learning, have informed her personal and professional identities. After graduating from college, Julia moved to San Francisco where she delighted in cooking with fresh California ingredients and playing in the outdoors. During that time, she worked in Urban Planning, with a focus in sustainable development and affordable housing, until she could no longer deny her calling to work directly with children and families. She moved to New York City to attend graduate school in education, and has been teaching elementary school with an inquiry-based approach and a social justice lens for the past 11 years. Currently a third grade teacher at Brooklyn Friends School, Julia has also worked at the Dalton School and Corlears. She has taught about sustainability and food justice, traditional indigenous cultures, and urban systems including waste and sanitation. Julia holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MS from Bank Street College of Education.
Meet Maggie Caso: Educator
Maggie has always loved creative play and spending time outdoors. She grew up in Guatemala where she spent hours in her yard making houses out of ferns, twigs, and other treasures she would find among the plants. Maggie enjoys experiences that awaken the senses and loves sharing beauty in its many forms with others. The past fifteen years she has worked as a Spanish Teacher at the Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, MA. During her tenure there she started a school garden, led students on several service-learning trips,including travel to the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Peru, and worked on several diversity related initiatives. Maggie is fluent in both Spanish and English. She has a BA in Art History from Haverford College and an M.Ed in Educating for Sustainability from Antioch University New England.