Women's History Month Spotlight

In honor of Women’s History Month, we are proud to highlight Cara Coffina, the District 75 Coordinator of Applied Learning at New York City Public Schools. Over the course of her career, Cara has worn many different hats, from high school Social Studies teacher to Literacy and later STEM Coach. She has supported numerous initiatives across D75, and her work in creating and running the Plant Learn Grow program has made her an important leader in food education, nutrition, and school gardening.

Alongside her colleague, Greg Heath, Cara co-founded and currently leads the D75 Plant Learn Grow program. This initiative provides professional development opportunities for educators who want to strengthen their school gardening skills and provides opportunities for students in the district to engage in outdoor, nature-based learning. After noticing that students’ choices in many school lunches lacked sufficient nutrition and appeal, they set out to create a program focused on increasing access to healthy, fresh food for students. As interest grew, so did the program. It now teaches students the process of growing food through vocational and hands-on learning techniques while also providing educators with the resources and training needed to sustain school garden programs.

Cara began her career as a junior high school Social Studies teacher in Brooklyn within the D75 network. Prior to the inception of Plant Learn Grow in 2013, Cara was running the D75 Debate program, which she created when her superintendent began looking for ways to maximize the potential of video conferencing technology for the district. For 18 years, Cara led D75 Debate, which was the first online debate league in the country. The program became a powerful way to build D75 students’ communication and social skills while encouraging them to think critically and analyze issues at the school, city, and even national and international policy levels.

As a member of the D75 STEM team, where she supports STEM programming across the district, Cara also leads the 3D World program, which helps high school students, particularly those with autism, practice social and life skills using avatars in an interactive virtual world. Cara also helps facilitate the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council (SSAC), which empowers student activism and leadership, bringing together student leaders across D75 High Schools.

When asked for advice for educators interested in environmental education, Cara shared that NYC has an abundance of resources and she enjoys helping educators to connect with local or city organizations, and with other school gardeners throughout the city. Reflecting on her hopes for the Plant Learn Grow program, she quoted Ron Finley: “The thing about sustainability is that you have to sustain it.”

Resources:

Watch a short film on Plant, Learn, Grow’s history, featuring two New York City schools located in food deserts. See how building gardens has transformed students’ access to fresh food and positively impacted their lives. Watch here

Learn more about Plant, Learn, Grow here