Big News From Life Lab

LIFE LAB RE-FOCUSES ON TRAINING GARDEN EDUCATORS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Whitney Cohen to lead organization forward as Executive Director

Santa Cruz, CA (August 20, 2024) - Life Lab, a charitable 501(c)3 nonprofit and national leader in garden-based education, is refocusing its efforts on training school garden educators. Whitney Cohen will serve as the organization’s new Executive Director. She brings 17 years of experience as Life Lab’s Education Director.

Working closely with its Board of Directors, Life Lab is prioritizing its programming to train garden educators as it draws on its 45-year track record of educating young people and educators in gardens. Specifically, Life Lab employs a peer-to-peer training model to maximize the impact of their mission by educating trainers serving the school garden movement in organizations across the country. In the first half of 2024, Life Lab trained nearly 1,000 school garden educators and trainers, reaching more than 5,000,000 students across the country.

“Having invested more than 20 years in the school garden movement, I have seen first-hand how school gardens help young people grow into confident leaders who are inspired, creative, collaborative, scientifically literate, and excited about fresh, nourishing foods,” said Cohen. “Students, especially those struggling in traditional classrooms, also experience genuine joy in school gardens. This is why I am thrilled to lead Life Lab as we invest in our train-the-trainers model, and to expand our support of school gardens nationally. I dream of a day when every young person, in every school, has access to a vibrant, living outdoor garden classroom.”

Read the full press release here.