Students visiting Great Kids Farm this year will see some new faces. Just as the 2018-2019 field trip season was beginning, Great Kids Farm welcomed five new human team members, and one working cat.
Joining us are four Farm to School Specialists, Anne, Ben and two Lauras, who will work on developing both on-farm and off-farm educational programming. We also welcome a new Production Assistant, Catherine Rowen, who joins our farm manager, James Koval, in caring for the gardens and animals. Finally, Lupin the cat brings extensive experience to his new role as Chief Officer of Pest Control and Cuddles.
Here's a little bit more about each of our new team members:
Anne Rosenthal is a native Baltimorean who is excited about using food as a tool for social change. Before joining the Farm to Schools team, Anne conducted research on global health and sustainability in New York and Belgium; supported community health workers in Mexico; and taught English to elementary schoolers in Spain…though her students there were not lucky enough to visit farms on field trips!
A proud Wisconsin native, Ben Sommers moved to Maryland last year. His professional experiences have been diverse; working for various anti-poverty and anti-hunger nonprofit organizations and small agriculture-related businesses. Food security, community education, and sustainability have been a part of everything he has done, and he is excited to continue that work with Baltimore City Public Schools. Ben is also a percussionist, homebrewer, and gardener.
Catherine Rowen is thrilled to be joining the team for the next year as an AmeriCorps and Civic Works service member helping with the day-to-day running of the farm. A California native, she recently received her undergraduate degree in Archaeology and Environmental Studies from Bryn Mawr College and decided to dive head-first into the world of sustainable food and waste management systems with her work at GKF.
Laura Genello is a food and farm enthusiast hailing from the Northeast. She brings to Great Kids Farm experience working in food systems as a farmer, advocate, researcher and educator. Laura is excited to be back in the Baltimore area after having spent the last two years in the Netherlands completing her masters studies in Sustainable Food Systems.
Laura Menyuk has trained in leadership development, team-building, facilitation, food justice, and environmental education around the US and the world. Laura has experienced the magic of the farm as classroom- a place for STEAM education, social science, history, place-based knowledge, personal growth, teamwork, personal connection to our most basic resources, and hands-on learning. She landed in Baltimore via Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program, and remained at the Pearlstone Center in Reisterstown as program coordinator and farm-educator for 4 years.
Lupin the cat was recently adopted via the BARCs working cat program. When he’s not hunting, he enjoys socializing with the goats and many farm visitors.