Kat grew up spending more time outdoors than in with a love of nature, animals and plants.
Her family did a lot of gardening, hiking and camping and she spent even more time in the woods during many years in the Girl Scouts. Kat decided to make the outdoors her career and went to college to study environmental education, horticulture and veterinary medicine. After moving to Maine, Kat did volunteer work providing nature guiding for kids at Thorncrag Nature Sanctuary in Lewiston. She also created a school garden for her son’s second grade class.
Years later she saw a presentation about the successful Troy Howard Middle School garden program and got inspired to do something to spread the benefits of school gardens around the state. In 2008, Kat helped Jessica Bean re-start the Maine School Garden Network (which had been active in the early 2000’s but had lost its leadership). Since then MSGN has worked hard to enlighten schools around Maine about the wonderful learning opportunities and fun a school garden program can offer their students. Kat believes teaching using a school garden can be one of the most rewarding ways that a school can enrich their curriculum!
In addition to attending Board meetings and serving on Committees, Kat coordinates the MSGN booth at the Common Ground Fair in the Exhibition Hall each year and oversees the School Garden Grown! entries there as well. This year there were 150+ SGG entries with over 100 of them coming from the Troy Howard Middle School Garden Project, Kat’s original source of inspiration for joining the MSGN Board!
Interested in finding out more about supporting youth gardening in Maine by joining the Board?
- Board meetings are held 6 times a year on Tuesdays at 10 am via Zoom.
- Board members are encouraged to serve on a Committee and attend MSGN events.
Can’t do weekday meetings?
- Consider joining a Committee or volunteering at events or writing for the newsletter.
- Educators can join the Educator Advisory Group that gives space for the voices of educators and meets twice a year or as needed.
If you would like to get involved as a Board member or volunteer, please fill out a Volunteer form. You can also email info@msgn.org for more information.
