2009-2010 Kidsgardening Advisory Board

Author: Sarah Pounders

The National Gardening Association (NGA) is pleased to announce the selection of the 2009-2010 Kidsgardening.org Advisory Board members. The role of the 30-member Kidsgardening Advisory Board is to guide the development of new materials and critique existing content. The Board consists of youth gardening experts and advocates from around the country who serve as leaders in their communities for the youth gardening movement. Board members include:

Tom Adamich
New Concord, OH
An Ohio-certified teacher librarian/consultant (Visiting Librarian Service) and head of Metadata Services, Muskingum College, Tom's primary research focus is K-12 cataloging/metadata creation and its connection to school curriculum, critical thinking skill development, and standards-based education. Through his education experiences, he has gained a strong appreciation for the impact that horticultural awareness can provide in contributing to the overall educational success of young people, who then become lifelong gardeners and plant lovers.

Carrie Banks
Brooklyn, NY
Carrie directs Brooklyn Public Library’s (BPL) The Child’s Place for Children with Special Needs, which includes an inclusive gardening program. She has helped draft national guidelines for serving people with disabilities in public libraries and has an extensive background in working with youth with special needs.

Becky Cassell-Wivagg
Royse City, TX
Becky is a retired education science specialist now serving as an independent consultant responsible for training educators in 78 school districts. She is also a Hunt County Master Gardener and serves as a volunteer educator for community gardening programs.

Candace Clavin Rein
Barrington, RI
As garden coordinator for St. Luke's School and leader of its Garden Club and Green Angels program, Candace draws on her experience as an organic vegetable farmer and newspaper garden columnist.

Joanna Coe
Savannah, GA
Joanna is a science and math teacher at St. Andrew’s School. Her classes are involved with the Adopt-A-Wetland program, the Green and Healthy Schools program, and also have initiated a hydroponics garden program.

Antrina Cooper
Pearland, TX
Antrina is an Elementary Content Science Specialist for Houston ISD's East Region. Certified to build schoolyard ponds and habitats, she is a proponent of youth garden programs because they are good learning tools for all children and they foster cooperative efforts.

Erzsi Deak
Paris, France
An author of children’s books, Erzsi often includes garden themes in her writing. As an American living in France, she brings an international perspective to the Kidsgardening.org board.

Richard Ellenburg
Orlando, FL
Richard has been an elementary educator in Orange County Public Schools for more than 30 years, and has implemented indoor and outdoor horticulture programs throughout his career. He was recognized as the 2008 Florida Department of Education Teacher of the Year and also received the 2005 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival School Garden of the Year Award. He currently teaches K-5 science labs at Camelot Elementary, where student-designed gardens serve as an integral part of his instruction.

Ann English
Rockville, MD
Ann has been active in youth garden education for 20 years. A landscape architect by training, she has designed gardens and whole campuses for schools ranging from pre-school through high school. She is a Rainscapes Planner for the Montgomery County Maryland Department of Environmental Protection and promotes vegetated stormwater management solutions such as rain barrels, rain gardens and green roofs for use by schools and private property owners. She also volunteers with the a high school as a mentor to the Horticulture teacher.

Gioya Fennelly
New York, NY
A 24-year veteran environmental science teacher at IS 143(M), Gioya is an Armada Master Teacher and national finalist for the 2008 Bartlett Environmental Teachers Award. She has a M.S. degree in Bio Physical Chemistry from Fordham University along with a certificate in Horticultural Therapy and Landscape Design from the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). In addition to youth education, Gioya has also served as an advanced botany instructor at NYBG. She directed the implementation of a 3,180-square-foot organic garden at her school and initiated a horticultural therapy and Junior Master Gardener program.

Bruce Fensley
Carthage, NC
A Moore County Master Gardener, Bruce has been educating children in the garden for three years, implementing curriculum-based programs focused on reducing childhood obesity, promoting healthy eating for children, and increasing outdoor activities.

John Fisher
Santa Cruz, CA
John Fisher is the assistant director of the Life Lab Science Program located on the UCSC Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems Farm. In addition, John manages the California Department of Education's Central Coast Region School Garden Resource Center and is a founding member of the California School Garden Network. For the past 11 years, John has taught garden-based environmental education to pre-K students through adults.

Dave Francis
Lehi, UT
Dave is a specialist at Utah State University Extension's 4-H with an emphasis in science, engineering, and technology. With a focus on environmental education, he provides leadership for the state Junior Master Gardener Program and is a member of the Utah School and Youth Garden Network: http://utahgardennetwork.org.

Dr. Carol Fraser
Houston, TX
Carol began gardening with her own children and has been active in 4-H clubs and with Junior Master Gardener programs. She is currently engaged as an educational consultant for water conservation programs in the Houston area.

Mollyann Hesser
Herscher, IL
Mollyann has developed several home-school youth gardening programs in New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

Stephanie Huckestein
Blacksburg, VA
Stephanie is education and outreach coordinator for the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech. She leads field trips and hands-on activities at the garden and provides local school outreach by bringing her programs to classrooms.

Tanna Nicely
Blaine, TN
Tanna is assistant principal at Dogwood Elementary in Knoxville and a former science teacher. She promotes gardening at her school and also serves as a consultant for state and national Agriculture in the Classroom programs, leading workshops at six Tennessee colleges to train educators how to use gardens in their programs.

Jean Persely
Macomb, MI
With a lifelong passion for gardening, Jean completed the Master Gardener program in 2004 and the Master Composter program in 2005. For the past two years, she has coordinated a garden club at Atwood Elementary. The Gator Gardeners meet after school and participate in the Junior Master Gardener program. Jean started the Macomb County School Garden Initiative to foster networking among educators.

Liz Schale
Bellingham, WA
Liz is the garden educator at Parkview Elementary School. Her role involves facilitating three garden clubs, maintaining the garden, and developing and teaching garden-based education classes for K-5 students.

Jim Smith
Clifton, NJ
Jim is a technology educator who co-teaches gardening and botany to students in collaboration with a colleague. Drawing on his experience maintaining his school's Web site, he will help to evaluate kidsgardening.org.

Melissa Stewart
Institute, WV
Melissa is the agriculture and natural resources agent for West Virginia State University Extension Service and serves as the state coordinator for the Junior Master Gardener Program.

Susan Stradling
Chenango Forks, NY
For the past six years, Susan has been project director for the school garden at the Children's Home Residential Treatment Facility in Chenango Forks, which serves severely emotionally challenged children and adolescents.

Kim Sutherland
Athens, GA
Kim is the field trip coordinator at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. She is also editor of the teacher workshop manual and the Web site for Our Shared Forests, a program linking the Georgia forest with the Cloud Forest of Ecuador. Each summer she develops and leads a gardening summer camp for children 3-10 years old at a local pottery studio, where she teaches the gardening basics integrated with clay projects that coincide with the topics.

Kurt Van Dexter
North Kingstown, RI
Kurt is a registered landscape architect and certified K-12 visual arts teacher who has worked with educators, parents, and students to develop school gardens since 1994. His interest in connecting children with the natural environment through the design and implementation of school gardens led to the founding of the Rhode Island Children's Garden Network.

Krissi Vandenberg
Richmond, VA
Krissi works at the Children’s Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden as a program developer and educator. She is also the volunteer chairperson of the Outdoor Education Society at Central Montessori.

Jennifer Vogel
San Marcos, TX
Jennifer has gardened with young children for 20 years, using gardens to teach math, science, art, and music. She believes the most important contribution of the garden experience for young children is the development of social skills.

Annie Warmke
Philo, OH
Co-owner of Blue Rock Station, a sustainable living center, Annie teaches gardening workshops in elementary and secondary education settings. Her goal is to create opportunities for children to learn math, science, geography, and ecology through gardening experiences. She began her youth gardening efforts while living in France and England. Since her return to the United States she has worked with a variety of children’s groups and schools to create natural gardens.

William Wright
Green Bay, WI
Bill is community garden coordinator for Brown County University of Wisconsin Extension. He is also project manager for Got Dirt?, a statewide initiative to train teachers and childcare providers to start gardens at their facilities, and the principle investigator for G.R.O.W., a research project that uses social marketing techniques to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school children.

Jaime Zaplatosch
Chicago, IL
Jaime has been involved in local and international urban gardening programs with audiences ranging from pre-K through adult. Through her work with the Chicago Department of Environment and Openlands, she has helped create school gardening programs at more than 50 schools throughout the city. She also runs the Green Teacher Network in collaboration with the Chicago Botanic Garden and Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance. The Green Teacher Network supports Chicago-area teachers who are trying to integrate plant and garden curriculum into the classroom.