The most vital person in running the School’s diverse garden is AJ Cucalon. Cucalon, who goes by Mr. AJ, is the lower school garden teacher and part of the After School Program. He takes care of bunnies, chickens, and countless plants on the School’s campus. Cucalon works to integrate practices of gardening into the everyday curriculum of the lower school by coaching students on how to care for the things around them. He said, “My goal is to bring nature into the classroom, so whether it is plant life cycle, animal life cycle, nature science, or gardening, the students will be learning something with a nature and science component.”
As the garden teacher, he works to bring the community together through activities such as the Fall Harvest Festival, and this year, he will teach students how to cook with ingredients from the garden.
According to Leslie Powell, the Lower School Head, Cucalon has a big kid spirit that emerges when he is getting down and dirty with the kids. She says, “He’s as curious as they are, and I think they respond really well to his curiosity. He wants to learn about what the kids are learning about in the classrooms so he can make connections in the garden. Cucalon makes sure that the garden makes sense to kids, and that kids understand that they are truly the ambassadors of the garden, and hopefully to take those skills as they grow older and are stewards of nature.” Cucalon is well respected in the professional community, but especially within the lower school according to Powell.
Lucca Monteiro, a kindergartener, is a big fan of the garden teacher and loves his humor. Monteiro says, “All that he teaches helps us learn about plants and how they grow. He also lets us pick when we are allowed to. He is sometimes really funny, and he sometimes makes me laugh.”
If Cucalon could instill one message into the students he teaches, it would be, “Have some forethought on the choices you make going forward. The choices you make don’t only affect you, they affect everything around you.”