Session Block A: Wednesday Early Afternoon Workshops
SOS – Save Our Seeds/Save Our Stories
Ginger Anderson, Education Specialist, Oak Spring Garden Foundation – Upperville, VA
Jimena Espinoza, Teaching Assistant, Oak Spring Garden Foundation – Upperville, VA
Mika Bishton, Teaching Assistant, Oak Spring Garden Foundation – Upperville, VA
Tricia Betterly, Teaching Assistant, Oak Spring Garden Foundation – Upperville, VA
Seed Saving is a human practice that dates back thousands of years. It is the heart of creating a more sustainable and secure food system by preserving crop diversity, growing crops more adapted to regional growing conditions, and connecting people to their gardens and heritage. At Oak Spring Garden Foundation, saving seeds of culturally and historically significant heirloom crops from the Appalachian and Virginia Piedmont Regions is a mission of grave importance. In this workshop session, participants will use game-based learning to identify the importance of seed-saving heirlooms, engage in experiential learning by conducting various seed-saving labs, use story-based learning to gain historical knowledge of heirloom seeds, and participate in project-based learning by creating an art project representing regional heirloom crops of the United States. Not only is saving the physical seed and its interwoven story essential to the continued cultivation of heirloom crops but inspiring youth to grow and save seeds provides hope for the future.
Honorable Harvest – Collecting and Growing Native Seeds with Students
Haley Diem, Education and Outreach Specialist, Sand County Foundation – Duluth, MN
When we garden with children, we have the opportunity to pass along Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), a combination of cultural, scientific, and spiritual ways of knowing that is deeply rooted in place. It can feel tricky at times as non-indigenous educators to incorporate perspectives of Native Americans into our lessons, but we have a responsibility to seek to understand all relationships within our landscape and honor these relationships. During this session, we will explore how to embrace indigenous perspectives respectfully, and participate in a hands-on Honorable Harvest lesson, developed under the guidance of Ojibwe elders within a Community of Practice in Duluth, Minnesota.
Exploring Plants with Science Tools and Practices
Grace Anderson, Science Education Specialist, United States Botanic Garden – Washington, DC
Lilly Andersen, Family Education Specialist, United States Botanic Garden – Washington, DC
From gazing into a microscope to extracting DNA, authentic science tools and practices can elevate hands-on plant science learning and connect students to plants in new ways. Join educators from the U.S. Botanic Garden to explore our middle and high school plant science lessons focused on photosynthesis, climate change-resilient plant traits, and the genetic mechanisms behind seedless fruit. After experiencing how we incorporate science research, tools, and practices into our lessons, you’ll brainstorm with peers how to layer science into your teaching and make a plan to bring science learning to your own garden. You’ll leave this workshop better prepared to tell research-based plant science stories that include exciting hands-on engagement for your learners.
Planning and Implementing an Intergenerational Food Sovereignty Education Program at a Community Garden
Scott Morrison, Associate Professor of Education, Elon University – Elon, NC
Ashlie Thomas, author of How to Become a Gardener – Sedalia, NC
Emily Ecker, undergraduate student, Elon University – Elon, NC
In this interactive workshop, we will be sharing a 10-week gardening, cooking, and nutrition education program that is rooted in food sovereignty and supports community resilience. Food sovereignty is the right of people to have control over the way food is produced, distributed, and consumed. It emphasizes the importance of local food systems, sustainable agricultural practices, and the empowerment of communities to define their own food policies. We will share the 10-session curriculum guide that was co-developed with residents of Morrowtown in Burlington, NC. Morrowtown is a historically Black neighborhood whose vision is to address issues such as environmental blight, food insecurity, violence and drug use and make a lasting mark for generations to come. Participants in this workshop will experience selected activities from the curriculum guide, examine photos and quotes from children and adults who participated in the program, and discuss how this program can be adapted and implemented in other contexts.
Northern Neighbours: Cultivating Free, Inclusive, Equity-Based, Child-Informed Garden Programs in Hamilton’s Industrial Heartland
Hazel Cho, Co-Founder and Chair, The Children’s Garden Project Canada – Hamilton, Canada
Victoria Bick, Lead Garden Expert, The Children’s Garden Project Canada – Hamilton, Canada
Marc Pinaid-Brown, Programming Lead Educator, The Children’s Garden Project Canada – Hamilton, Canada
In this 90-minute interactive workshop, participants will learn how to think outside the box and design inclusive, equity-driven gardening programs that engage diverse children and youth in meaningful ways. Using real-world scenarios from The Children’s Garden Project Canada in Hamilton—a city rooted in industry yet blooming with community spirit—this session will illustrate how to transform urban spaces into accessible, child-centered green havens. Facilitated by the TCGPC team, this hands-on workshop will tackle three unique challenges faced when designing youth gardening programs: 1. Seasonal Adaptability: Creating engaging events during shoulder seasons. 2. Active Participation: Encouraging children to take ownership of physical gardening tasks. 3. Building Partnerships: Designing programs that foster collaboration with community organizations. Through collaborative small-group work, participants will brainstorm innovative solutions, share best practices, and develop practical strategies to meet these challenges. Guided discussions will reveal how TCGPC’s free programming—rooted in equity, cultural diversity, and environmental stewardship—successfully addresses community needs in Hamilton’s industrial landscape. This session is perfect for educators, program coordinators, and community organizers seeking tools to create adaptable and impactful gardening experiences. Leave inspired and empowered to design inclusive programs that grow strong roots in any community.
The People and Plants Behind the Greatest Advancements in Botany
Dr. Pamela Blanchard, LSU School of Education – Baton Rouge, LA
Dr. Mary Legoria, Science Laboratory Teacher, Westdale Heights Academic Magnet Elementary School – Baton Rouge, LA
Participants in this session will learn captivating ways to engage children’s curiosity about botany and great botanists. We will begin by discussing some of the greatest botanists in history: George Washington Carver (Soil health), Gregory Mendel (genetics), Jagadish Chandra Bose (plant tropisms), Anna Atkins (cyanotype printing) and Jannika Ammal (sugarcane). Discussion will be followed by hands-on lab stations to explore these famous discoveries.
Session Block B: Wednesday Mid-Afternoon Workshops
From Seed to Story: Cultivating Learning Through Garden Journals
Rick Perillo, MUSE School Seed to Table Manager, MUSE Global School – Calabasas, CA
This interactive session will explore the power of garden journals to transform K-12 gardening classes into dynamic learning experiences. We will delve into practical strategies for incorporating science and history standards into garden-based activities, drawing upon real-world examples. This session will provide valuable resources and actionable strategies for youth garden educators to enhance their curriculum and empower students to become scientifically literate, historically informed, and passionate stewards of the environment.
Herbal Allies: Nurturing Wellness and Wisdom in the Garden
Ashley Rouse, Executive Director, The Edible Schoolyard Project – Berkeley, CA
This workshop will share insights from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “Braiding Sweetgrass” and discuss the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge in herbalism. Participants will explore the medicinal properties of selected plants and their historical uses and engage in hands-on sessions to make Elderberry Syrup, Skin Healing Salve, and tea blends, with step-by-step guidance. They will be able to reflect on their experiences, share their creations, and discuss ways to incorporate herbal practices into daily life. At the end of the workshop, there will be a gratitude ceremony to thank the plants, ancestors, and community for their wisdom and support.
This workshop will equip participants to share these practical skills in herbalism with their students while deepening their connection to the natural world and fostering a sense of community care.
STEM in Youth Horticulture
Shelley Mitchell, Education Director, The Botanic Garden at OSU – Stillwater, OK
Come use simple, cheap materials to model the STEM in plants. These popular activities include watching photosynthesis in action using fresh leaves and baking soda, as well as modeling capillary action in xylem. We will play a simulation ‘game’ to see who can save up enough sugars from photosynthesis, without losing too much water, to reproduce before the end of the growing season! We will also make a complete and perfect model flower that is detailed down to the pollen on the anthers! Come for fun and learning, leave with resources for replicating the activities!
Cultivating Independence: Gardening Practices & Life Skills for Diverse Learners
Pamia Coleman, Co-Founder/Director, Black Girls With Green Thumbs – Philadelphia, PA
Latiaynna Tabb, MS – Co-Founder/Director, Black Girls With Green Thumbs – Upper Darby, PA
The positive benefits and impact of gardening are not limited by ability, socioeconomic status, or physical environment. Black Girls With Green Thumbs will lead an interactive workshop that will provide workshop participants with a comprehensive framework for designing and implementing school youth gardening programs that prioritize diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Drawing directly from experiences implementing our “Green Thumbs In Your School” program in Philadelphia public schools, the session will explore strategies for creating meaningful gardening experiences tailored to students in autism support classrooms. “Green Thumbs In Your School” is an innovative wellness education program that introduces garden-to-table concepts, by teaching gardening, nutrition, plant-based cooking, and trauma-informed yoga. During this workshop, participants will learn and engage in hands-on activities such as sensory gardening, adaptive gardening tools, and sensory yoga, leaving with actionable tools to adapt gardening programs to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Maple in the Classroom: Inspiring Sweet Cross-Curricular Connections
Margaret Donnan, Youth Education Associate, Future Generations University – Franklin, WV
Casey Withers, Communication Education Associate, Future Generations University – Franklin, WV
Vada Boback, Kindergarten Teacher, Hillsboro Elementary School – Hillsboro, WV
This workshop will introduce Maple in the Classroom, a hands-on curriculum developed by Future Generations University and its many partners where the maple tree and maple syrup serve as anchoring threads to help students gain a better understanding of plants and their role in communities. Designed for 4 different age brackets (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12), Maple in the Classroom gives students the opportunity to learn about the topics of STEM, history, and entrepreneurship through six lessons emphasizing plant identification skills, the importance of storytelling, plant biology, the maple syrup production process, and career development. Through these activities, which are aligned with state and national education standards, students learn about the importance of environmental stewardship in the creation of maple syrup and gain a deeper awareness of the connection between nature and the delicious product they pour on their pancakes. In this workshop, participants will rotate through several stations where they will engage in some of the hands-on activities from the Maple in the Classroom curriculum and brainstorm ideas for bringing these activities back to their communities.
Session Block C: Friday Morning Lectures
Hands-On With Horticultural History
Victoria Bick, Supervisor Historical Kitchen Garden, City of Hamilton – Dundurn National Historic Site – Hamilton, Ontario
Dundurn Castle features a 1.5-acre historic kitchen garden showcasing over 200 varieties of heirloom plants from the mid-1800s. After challenging COVID-19 closures transformed parts of the formal garden into wilderness, returning garden staff repurposed a section to create a space for youth-led garden experiences. This iterative design process resulted in a flexible area where families feel welcome to engage their senses and creativity through a range of activities. Children are invited to explore themed sensory beds, digging areas, loose parts, and free play activities, while caregivers can relax in the shade or sample freshly harvested berries. This session will focus on the process of developing the space, staff insights for designing feature elements, and maintenance needs. It will also highlight the role of collaboration with community partners in animating the space and providing valuable feedback. Finally, the session will demonstrate how integrating elements from the children’s area has enhanced the visitor experience for all ages and abilities throughout the historic garden.
LEEDing the Way: Creating Interactive STEM Field Trips for Middle and High School Students
Kaylan Amaya, Education Program Director, Fort Worth Botanic Garden – Fort Worth, TX
Field trips offer valuable opportunities for students to connect their classroom learning with the real world, yet programming often falls short for middle and high school students. Most offerings for this age group at botanical gardens and other similar institutions are self-guided, leaving a gap in facilitated, interactive experiences. This presentation will explore how to design and implement field trips that engage MS/HS students through hands-on STEM activities, connecting classroom concepts to real-world application. Using our campus as an example, the speaker will showcase how the education team created interactive STEM-focused programming that bridges this gap. Our LEEDing the Way field trip features a tour of our LEED (Leader in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certified building, along with an onsite engineering design challenge. In the design challenge activity, students collaborate to redesign their own school to be more sustainable, competing to earn the highest number of LEED points. By emphasizing the importance of interactive, age-appropriate programming, this session will demonstrate how facilitated field trips can provide students with positive, lasting experiences. Attendees will leave equipped to reimagine their field trip offerings, ensuring they are engaging, impactful, and aligned with the needs of MS/HS learners.
Empowering the Future: Training Latinx Community Leaders for Climate Leadership and Change
Claudia Damiani, Program Director, Veggielution – San Jose, CA
Rosa Maria Gordillo, Environmental Education Manager, Veggielution – San Jose, CA
This session will share the story of two projects run by Veggielution’s Environmental Program that aimed at empowering Latinx community members in East San Jose, California, to become leaders in environmental and climate action. The projects focused on two different demographics: DIG Crew was focused on youth from gang-impacted neighborhoods and PROMOTORAS was tailored to engage with moms. Our projects took place at our urban community farm, where participants learned about gardening, agriculture, climate change, and how to take action in their own neighborhoods. The session will explain how the program was designed to be relevant to the community, using local knowledge and removing barriers of participation. It will also discuss how the team worked closely with community members to make sure the lessons were meaningful and engaging. In addition, the session will cover how the program was evaluated to measure its success. Participants’ feedback, changes in behavior, and the program’s impact on the community will be shared. Finally, key lessons learned will be discussed, including the importance of building trust, overcoming language barriers, and providing ongoing and wrap-around support. This session will offer practical advice for creating similar programs that empower communities to engage in gardening as a vehicle to climate action and climate leadership.
Tracking Impact: Sustaining the Dirt Girls Program
Carrie Strohl, Director, The School Garden Doctor – Napa, CA
The Dirt Girls program started in 2016 as an afterschool club in a school garden. The initial idea was to enlist student support with garden maintenance: planting, harvesting, and tending crops. The program gradually grew into a very special and safe place for girls to explore their science identities. However, as the context shifted, so did the program. This session will share a multi-year journey of measuring the impact of a very small program and how the changing landscape influenced the program outcomes. Participants will engage with concepts related to measuring impact, theory of change, and program evaluation through the lens of fundraising and program sustainability.
Farm to Table Engagement for our Smallest Gardeners
Anne Murray-Randolph, Gardening on the Cay – Tega Cay, GA
This session will include the importance of nature-based education for preschoolers and using school gardens to encourage children to learn where their food comes from, how it is grown, cared for, and harvested as well as trying new fresh food from the garden. This is based on a 5-Year experimental program developed for the Anne Springs Close Greenway Nature-Based Preschool in Fort Mill, SC, which won a First Place Award in Youth Gardening from the Nation Garden Club in 2021. We will walk through the lesson plans and explore the principles in the curriculum where the children have both a “lesson” and then do a gardening activity and a fun game or food sampling activity that reinforces the learning in an actual garden setting. We also attempt to maximize the time and attention given to each child using a high teacher volunteer/child ratio, which is vital in this 3–5-year-old age group. We will review the challenges of space, costs of building and maintaining a school garden as well as the critical involvement and support of the teachers and administration of the school. In addition, we look at how current grants available to support these activities are mostly limited to kindergarten and above.
A Native Florida Approach to Youth Gardening
Jessie Wingar, Children’s Garden Educator, Florida Botanical Gardens Foundation – Largo, FL
The Florida Botanical Gardens (FBG) sits on land of the Mascogo, Miccosukee, Tocobaga, and Seminole tribes and features many native plantings. Through our education hub, the Majeed Discovery Garden (MDG), the FBG Foundation has been able to incorporate themes of early Florida gardening and Florida Friendly gardening. Some of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Florida Friendly Landscaping Principles directly relate to how Native Americans planted. The first principle, Right Plant, Right Place, applies to the Native American planting tradition of The Three Sisters by planting corn, beans, and squash together for food and medicinal purposes. Corn provides a climbing frame for the beans, beans enrich the soil with nitrogen, and the large leaves of the squash help keep the soil moist and weed-free. Through teaching and expanding on these topics through a combination of signage, planters, and educational Discovery Carts, the community will learn about Florida history while gaining hands-on gardening experience. This session will discuss resource and curriculum building, in addition to the results of mixing Florida history and horticulture on our FBG Community.
Session Block D: Friday Afternoon Lectures
Who Built This Place? – Incorporating Facility History into Educational Programs
Matt Kocsis, Senior Naturalist, Lorain County Metro Parks – LaGrange, OH
How we provide information about our facility’s origins can vary from the public to school/children’s programs considering the needs of our audience. Many botanical gardens and horticultural locations were started by private citizens for their personal enjoyment before the sites were recommitted for a public educational and recreational use. Connecting young audiences to our origin stories can serve as illustrative examples that relate broader historical topics and increases our location’s relevancy to the content standards. We will explore how the Lorain County Metro Parks incorporates the founder’s stories into programs about their historical sites including a botanical garden, a grist mill owner’s property and a site on the Underground Railroad.
Partnering for STEM/STEAM Success: A Blueprint for Certification Using the Georgia STEM/STEAM Continuum
Cameron Anderson, Director of Community Engagement, Plantlanta – Atlanta, GA
This session will showcase how Plantlanta collaborates with STEM coordinators and schools to help achieve STEM/STEAM certification using the Georgia STEM/STEAM Certification Continuum. Attendees will learn how to foster impactful partnerships, build a culture of innovation, and implement interdisciplinary instruction. Through a case study of a successful school partnership, we’ll explore strategies for engaging community partners, incorporating hands-on learning, and aligning programming with certification requirements.
The presentation will offer a framework for creating curriculum maps, leveraging process-based models like the Engineering Design Process, and developing project-based learning activities aligned with state standards. Practical tools, including sample timelines and resources, will also be shared to guide educators through the certification journey.
Nurturing Interest, Cultivating Commitment: The Junior Botanist/Plant Investigator Program at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Ashley Gagnay, Project Green Reach Coordinator, Brooklyn Botanic Garden – Brooklyn, NY
The Junior Botanist/Plant Investigator program (JB/PI) is the summer component of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s (BBG) outreach program to Brooklyn’s Title I K-8 schools, Project Green Reach (PGR). Teachers who have worked with PGR that school year nominate students who have shown great interest in plants and gardening and have limited summer options. The presentation includes broader historical context for children’s gardening at BBG, focusing on the JB/PI program and its evolution. Recent program developments include moving indoor science lab activities outdoors to the students’ vegetable plots, continued evolution in pedagogical approaches aligned with culturally responsive teaching, and providing windows into green careers. The career introductions are a field-wide collaboration in which students learn about future possibilities as they work side-by-side with BBG horticulture staff and scientists/environmentalists from outside of BBG. BBG is proud to be able to share multiple stories of career pathways featuring past participants in this and other of BBG’s children’s and youth programs; the presenter herself began her BBG career as a teen apprentice. In keeping with a participatory learning model, session attendees will communicate with each other about programs they currently run or are developing that have similar goals to the JB/PI program via a facilitated discussion protocol.
School Garden Management 101
Ashley Rouse, Executive Director, The Edible Schoolyard Project – Berkeley, CA
The session will cover the fundamentals of garden management in educational settings. We’ll discuss site analysis and design decisions, building sustainable maintenance systems, the basics of crop planning, weekly garden care, soil, compost, water, pests, and more.
Cultivating Partnerships for Inclusive Learning in Garden Spaces
Emma Walter, Coordinator, Early Childhood Programs & Assistant Preschool Director, Chicago Botanic Garden Nature Preschool – Glencoe, IL
Ann Halley, Early Childhood Programs & Preschool Director – Glencoe, IL
In this presentation, participants will hear from the Chicago Botanic Garden Nature Preschool about its new partnership with TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804, an organization that is committed to inclusive education and provides services, evaluation, and intervention to support all learners. Participants will learn about each of these organizations, how the partnership began, and how this partnership has evolved. Presenters will share their challenges and success and inspire participants to consider cultivating intentional partnerships with organizations in their own communities that align with their program’s values and goals.
Diving into Water-wise Gardening
Em Shipman, Executive Director, KidsGardening – Bradford, VT
A precious and threatened resource, water is essential for all living things. Youth garden programs offer amazing, real-world opportunities for kids to learn how to respect and use water sustainably. Learning how to create gardens that conserve water and how to water correctly and efficiently is knowledge that they will use their whole lives. In this session, KidsGardening’s Em Shipman will share ideas for designing water-wise youth gardens that compare different watering techniques and share tips for how and when to water your gardens. We will also introduce our new Water Wise Garden Program and share about the educational resources and grant opportunities being developed to support teaching about water through youth gardening efforts.
Contact:
Courtney Allen
Director of National Programs
703.768.5700 ext. 121
programs@ahsgardening.org