Alumni Spotlight: Rachel Lerner ’19
Meet one of our most enthusiastic and energetic farm alums- Rachel Lerner ’19! Rachel graduated from Dickinson this past May with an Environmental Studies major and Food Studies Certificate. On campus she lived in the Treehouse, worked on the College Farm, and was involved in a multitude of clubs and activities related to art, social justice, and sustainability. Rachel started working on the farm the summer after her sophomore year and worked all the way until graduation. She was a familiar face on the farm prior to becoming a farm worker from volunteering and attending farm events. Knowing the farm workers and being so interested in environmental and food studies lead Rachel to apply to work on the farm.
Literally a day after graduation Rachel moved to Moab, Utah to start working at the Youth Garden Project, a non-profit organization focused on cultivating healthy children, families, and community through educational programs and connecting people with their food. Rachel says it’s been amazing to take all her production and academic food related experience and put it forward to teaching kids at a garden! She has especially enjoyed planning cooking related garden activities for the local kids. She just finished running a summer camp at the garden and is transitioning into working with the local public schools to run garden classes and after school programs at the garden.
Rachel claims that it is impossible to acknowledge all the ways that the skills she learned at the college farm have helped her in her post-grad experience. Directly, Rachel says that it is very helpful to have farm experience since she works at a garden. Indirectly, she appreciates how farming taught her to work hard as a team, how to push herself to complete tasks, and how to communicate effectively. She also says working at the farm was one of the best things she did at Dickinson!! Some of her favorite memories are the Boiling Springs Anything Floats Boat Race, summer 3 PM sun induced giggles, playing the farm favorite game of Contact while weeding, rotten tomato fights, and more! She also loved watching the seasons change, watching the herds grow, learning the lifecycle of vegetables, and completing tasks with confidence and pride. In her spare time Rachel enjoys knitting, rock climbing, and praising the moon! She especially likes looking at the sky when the sun and the moon are both in it. We look forward to hearing about all her future adventures in Moab and beyond!
