Happy New Year, Life Lab Community!

As we step into 2025, we take a moment to reflect on the year that has passed and express our deepest gratitude to each of you who have supported our mission to cultivate learning and growth through garden-based education.

2024 Highlights
This year, Life Lab:

🌿 Trained 793 educators, more than any year previous! 
🌼 Hosted 15 workshops from Baltimore to San Francisco, empowering educators with the tools to inspire young learners in school gardens.
🌟 Certified 60 school garden educators in the Life Lab’s Certified Garden Educator Course, the most we have ever certified in a year! 
🍅 Inspired and invigorated over 560 movement builders at conferences and events, including the Growing School Gardens Summit, co-hosted with Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation!
🥕 Trained 66 UCSC student interns in garden education. 

These achievements would not have been possible without the dedication of our staff, volunteers, and donors—thank you for being part of this journey!

Looking Ahead
In 2025, we’re excited to:

☀️ Bring summer camp back to the Life Lab Garden Classroom in Summer 2025, including partnering with local organizations like the Santa Cruz Welcoming Network, to provide scholarships spots to children in our community who may not otherwise have the chance.
🌿 Host the annual School Garden Support Organization (SGSO) Leadership Institute in June 2025.
🍎 Continue to change the very nature of education by training interns and educators across the country to bring learning to life in outdoor school gardens!

How You Can Help:
🌱 Donate: Your gift helps us grow more opportunities for young learners.
😊 Spread the Word: Share our mission with friends and family. Find us on social media @lifelabgarden

Together, we’ll continue to plant seeds of inspiration, learning, health, and community!

Wishing you a year full of growth, connection, and joy.

December 2024

Congratulations to the graduates of our 8th and 9th Cohort of the Life Lab-Certified School Garden Educator Program, powered by Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation! 🎉 These inspiring educators spent months growing their skills and to celebrate their graduation, they created beautiful, small sculptures from natural materials to represent their learning and growth in this program. 🌿 We’re excited to see all the amazing things they will do next!

Interested in joining this journey? Registration for the Spring 2025 certification series is open now. 🌸