November 23, 2021
UBC Orchard Garden is a finalist for the global Roots and Shoots 30th Anniversary Growing Together Long-term Award
Roots and Shoots, a program of the Jane Goodall Institute, is a global movement of youth who are empowered to use their voice and actions to make compassionate decisions that influence and lead change in their communities.
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and United Nations Messenger of Peace, is one of the many inspiring presenters in the global Roots and Shoots 30th Anniversary Awards Ceremony, where the UBC Orchard Garden project has been nominated by the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and is a finalist for the Growing Together Long-term Award.
The student-led UBC Orchard Garden, located on Totem Field at UBC’s Vancouver campus, is part of the Cultivating Learning Network, a mutually-supportive affiliation of UBC teaching and learning gardens.
The UBC Orchard Garden cultivates an outdoor living classroom that invites learners across disciplines to connect theory to practice through exploring the relationships among teaching, learning, and growing. It provides pre- and in-service educators with a space to experiment with outdoor teaching and learning, with the garden as co-teacher. It also offers collaborative, hands-on, immersive, and experimental learning opportunities for students, faculty, and staff.
Further, food for the Agora Cafe, Sprouts and Seedlings, Orchard Garden Workshop Series, Orchard Garden Community Field Experiences and other courses are grown at the Orchard Garden. The Orchard Garden is also an outdoor research lab, supporting faculty, graduate and undergraduate papers and dissertations, as well as international research conferences.
Dr. Susan Gerofsky, Faculty of Education, is the academic advisor and principal investigator of the UBC Orchard Garden team. She works collaboratively with a team of graduate and undergraduate students from the UBC Faculties of Education, Land and Food Systems, Forestry and the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
To learn more, visit the UBC Orchard Garden website and watch Dr. Gerofsky’s short films with UBC Orchard Garden alumni.
