Our Service Members
Our first 50 FoodCorps Service Members are setting out to 41 sites across 10 states! More than 1,200 emerging leaders applied for the positions, demonstrating remarkable skill, passion, and commitment in areas related to improving school food.
Travis Aguilar
Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico
"In 10 years I see myself finishing school with a major in nutrition and teaching and giving back to my community."
Jackie Billhymer
Highland, Arkansas
"When we taste tested fresh pesto one girl commented 'I'd rather have this than a cookie when I get home from school.' "
Katy Brantley
Monticello, Arkansas
"I was excited that one of my students wanted to bite right into a raw turnip and after tasting it, asked if she could finish the rest!"
Laura Budde
Gardiner, Maine
"In 10 years I see myself having a goat dairy and veggie farm that sources to local schools and hosts farm field trips!"
Leah Chapman
Decorah, Iowa
"One of my second graders shouted 'I love vegetables! and I LOVE raw kale!' My mind was blown!"
Kendal Chavez
Bernalillo County, New Mexico
"If I were a vegetable, I'd be a Green Chile, of course! They are the ultimate embellishment, or foundation, to any meal and are only found in the beautiful state of New Mexico."
Christopher Chemsak
Salem, Oregon
"If I were a fruit I would be a blueberry bush. I think it would be nice to be a perennial, providing fruit year after year."
Grace Cherubino
Gloucester, Massachusetts
"If I were a vegetable, I would be a beet because they are firmly grounded, with their roots stretching deep into the soil, but at the same time, their leaves are reaching up into the sky."
Lauren Cioffi
Jackson, Mississippi
"If I were a vegetable I would be okra because it is little known but is unique looking and brings a smokey flava to all that it touches!"
Stephanie Conant
Decorah, Iowa
"I was picking sweet golden tomatoes with students in their school garden when one student exclaimed, "This tomato tastes like sunshine!"
Graham Downey
Flowood, Mississippi
"One of my students said 'Mr. Graham, you should be on television.' "
Chesapeake First
Raleigh, Goldsboro, North Carolina
"In 10 years I will still be thinking about food, and feeding people's bellies, brains and hearts."
Celeste Frisbee
Warren County, North Carolina
"One of my students said 'I never knew that something organic could taste so good.' "
Kirsten Gerbatsch
Traverse City, Michigan
"In 10 years, I see myself with some roots in the ground (both literally and figuratively)."
Norris Guscott
Lynn, Massachusetts
“They always say to pick work that you love because you’re going to have to do it every day."
Andy Harding
Lynn, Massachusetts
"A student I was teaching said to me "I want to live in the garden until I'm so old I turn into compost and grow plants."
Josh Kanter
Gallup, New Mexico
"Sugar snaps remind me of home and my childhood, two very lovely times and places."
Leah Klaproth
High Point, North Carolina
"In 10 years I hope to have my PhD in Food Justice and Agroecology and be working with communities of limited resources, both in the States and abroad."
Corbin Lichtinger
Lewiston, Maine
"In 10 years I see myself in a straw hat with a bill the size of an Ohio corn field, steering a snarling and rusted red tractor through black earth."
Stephanie Lip
Sells, Arizona
"In 10 years I see myself continuing educating and learning with kids in school gardens and pulling espresso shots in my own cafe on the side!"
