Cultivating Curiosity and Healthy Habits: A Conversation With the New Garden and Plant Science Educator

There is something remarkable about the way a garden transforms the food we eat and the way we see ourselves, our Tartan community, and the natural world. 

For Pam Conti, St. Margaret’s new Garden and Plant Science Educator, cultivating healthy habits begins with cultivating the soil. She has seen firsthand how children who resist vegetables at the dinner table eagerly harvest and eat the produce they have grown themselves. As she works to strengthen the connection between the garden, the kitchen, and the classroom, Ms. Conti hopes to inspire students to understand the full journey of food—from seed to plate—while fostering a deeper appreciation for nutrition, regenerative agriculture, sustainability, and the people who grow our food. 

Most importantly, she hopes to encourage St. Margaret’s students to rediscover their place within nature, building lifelong connections to healthy living, local community, and the environment. We shared a moment with Ms. Conti to learn more about her vision, the school’s partnership with La Novia Farm, and what excites her most about this important role.

Hands-on, outdoor, place-based education brings the lessons of the classroom alive. By engaging directly with soil, plants, and natural ecosystems, students build deeper knowledge retention, sharpen critical thinking skills, and gain important connections to their local environment and the agrarian heritage deeply rooted in San Juan Capistrano’s rich history.

Retention of subject matter increases through hands-on, relevant work. Opportunities like La Novia Farm connect students back to the natural world, which helps them in a myriad of ways. Social and emotional well-being increases when you spend time in nature, as stress and anxiety decrease. Nature inspires an active curiosity in students which fosters critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, and allows historical contexts to become more real than what often comes from simply reading text. If we as educators care about the whole child, outdoor education plays a critical role in their development.

The pure joy of seeing a child pick a carrot or beet for the first time, taste a “real” tomato, or make a connection to the natural world that they could not make inside the four walls of the classroom is exactly why I do this work. Starting at a young age, gardening helps students become genuine lovers of the natural world. If you can help them overcome sensory fears such as touching bugs or dirtying their hands, then the exploration that can be found in a garden setting is truly magical. They first learn how to grow and care for their garden, and then they learn to love what they grow and care for, and then hopefully they develop a life-long relationship with nature. We cannot protect something we have no affinity for. Gardens are the perfect place to build this affinity, fostering the future environmental stewards our world so desperately needs.

The new dining program in the St. Margaret’s Commons features ingredients grown on La Novia Farm. How does that connection enrich students' understanding of healthy eating and local agriculture?

It is always astonishing to me that children who will not touch a vegetable on their dinner plate, will shove fistfuls of leafy greens into their mouths in the garden, simply because they grew it and they picked it! Parents think I am a miracle worker when I get their kid to eat broccoli! If you want a healthy eater, build a garden; If you want a healthier community, build an organic, regenerative farm. 

I hope to build a bridge between our chefs and our students’ work on the farm, making the connection from farm to table truly meaningful. Our students will intimately know this food because they will witness its journey from germination and photosynthesis to harvest and the final plate. Through hands-on lessons, they will learn the importance of good nutrition, understand the differences between organic and conventional farming, and feel empowered by their role in the process. Because they helped nurture the crops, they will realize that fresh, locally grown produce is far better for their bodies and the local environment than anything from a grocery store shelf. Experiencing how challenging it can be to grow food will hopefully inspire them to reduce waste. And just maybe, the next time they see a worker in the field, they will understand the depth of that labor, shifting their mindset toward empathy and deep gratitude.

 

For thousands of years, humans were intimately connected to the natural world, and everyone was a farmer to some extent. Everyone spent time outdoors collecting food, growing food, or gathering natural materials to sustain their lives. For hundreds of years now, we have shifted from being a part of nature to becoming apart from nature.

I am excited to help students regain that feeling of belonging in nature. Once you are comfortable in nature and truly see the interconnectedness of all living things—and the pure miracle of life on Earth—then you are more likely to want to protect it and help sustain it. That is the shift we need in the world: to once again feel connected to nature and community.

Food and community are the cornerstones of societal connectivity. Sharing culinary experiences, sharing your day, and sharing stories around a table of food grown with care in our community can help us all regain some of what has been lost in modern times. That is what excites me the most about this new opportunity—to inspire students to seek out healthy food choices in their local community, not only for their personal health but for the health of the entire community.

Resilience. Nature is resilient, and we can take a lesson from that. Nature teaches us that life will always find a way to adapt, grow, and overcome, even in the harshest environments. 

And for humans, sometimes being in nature is challenging, especially when conditions are not ideal. As an educator leading outdoor trips, I’ve seen firsthand how stepping into the wild pulls students out of their comfort zones. When conditions aren't ideal, pressing forward becomes a lesson in itself. Pushing through physical and mental discomfort helps students unlock a deep well of grit and perseverance they didn't know they possessed, fostering lifelong personal growth.