Letter from the School Farm Specialist
Hello and warm greetings from the school farm crew! I am Nichole Lupo, and I have the joy and privilege of serving as our K-8 School Farm Specialist. In that role, I get to collaborate and connect with all of our wonderful students, as well as all of our incredible educators and staff–and so much of it takes place outdoors. Our collective work on land is rooted in an abiding respect and gratitude for the wisdom of stewards and teachers that came before us and continue to inform our practices today: indigenous nations, enslaved Africans, and peoples from all over the world that have made their mark simply by living and sharing their cultures and traditions.
I grew up just outside Columbia, SC, and my very first job was to help my dad in our family’s quarter-acre home garden. My first paying job was in a restaurant, and I continued that work at various establishments throughout high school, college, and even on the weekends when I began my teaching career. (It’s not hyperbole to say that my years in hospitality, in the service industry, helped make me the teacher I am today.) I spent summers working on local farms, which led me to combine my loves of good food, working with children, and being outside as much as possible. I graduated Cum Laude from Columbia College (Columbia, SC) with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education, taught music to students in Grades K-5, and I’ve been teaching in schools and for local non-profits for the last 25 years.
Prior to joining the ANCS staff in the fall of 2021, I was a parent and staff spouse first; my daughter Cora attended ANCS for nine years, and Robert began cooking here in 2016. My work as a Farm to School and environmental educator took me to several metro Atlanta non-profits: three years in three schools with the Seeds of Nutrition Program, followed by several years creating and delivering Farm to School workshops for teachers with Georgia Organics. And in 2012, I joined the staff at Wylde Center as the Farm to School Manager, where I taught students in City Schools of Decatur in their garden classrooms, implemented two district-wide taste tests each year, and managed high school summer interns at farms, restaurants, and farmers markets around Decatur and Atlanta. I also supervised FoodCorps service members in their work in four APS elementary schools. In all those years of going and growing from school to school all I wanted was to set roots in a special place, and it’s a real honor to grow food and tend land and share stories and learn from each other out on the farm. We all have a connection to land and food, as we are land and food–the same carbon and nitrogen and building blocks and magic created us all. This space belongs to everyone, so please consider joining us for an event, a weekend workday, or a celebration on the farm.
When I’m not nerding out on plants/trees/food, you can find me hiking, camping, watching, reading, listening, thinking, stretching, napping, sipping coffee, and snuggling dogs–mine, yours, all the dogs.
Nichole Lupo
Nichole joined the ANCS faculty in the Fall of 2021 as the School Farm Specialist. Prior to coming to ANCS she worked at the Wylde Center as the Farm to School Manager, where she taught students in City Schools of Decatur in their garden classrooms, implemented two district-wide taste tests each year, and managed high school summer interns at farms, restaurants, and farmers markets around Decatur and Atlanta.
