Often people will comment on how fun my job at Kansas City Community Gardens sounds, and I will agree. I love working towards our SYG mission of building gardens with students who then get to grow their very own veggies. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of the Schoolyard Gardens program for the past 8 years, which is why it is bittersweet to announce that I will be leaving the schoolyard team and will move on as our Director of  the Community Partner Gardens program.

I’m so grateful that I will still be at KCCG, but there will be things I will miss that one can only experience when working for the Schoolyard Gardens program.

For one,  I’ll  miss the sheer delight of students when they find their first sweet pea, and with the pride of “I grew this,” take a bite without hesitation. Or pulling up to a school in the dump truck full of lumber and soil and seeing students excited and eager to get started building their school’s garden beds.

I will of course miss my fantastic garden coordinators and the relationships that have grown over the years. One of my favorite things to experience is working alongside a hesitant teacher, who starts out new to the gardening world and after only a few seasons, becomes a more confident gardener and in turn shares their knowledge of gardening experience with their students. I want to extend a big “Thank you” to all the school coordinators for all the time you’ve committed to teaching students the importance of gardening!

Finally, I will forever be grateful to have worked alongside so many great women. The SYG team is always busy creating educational resources, building hundreds of gardens around the city, all while having so much fun.  I will always treasure our lifelong friendships.

A big “Thank you” to everybody that has worked with me and has dedicated their time and energy to the mission of the Schoolyard Gardens program.

Happy Gardening!