This August, Antioch University Seattle (AUS) hosted an open house for our Leadership in Edible Education (LEE) program, inviting prospective students, alumni, faculty, and other community members to learn more about this exciting curriculum.
AUS’s Leadership in Edible Education program is a full Master of Arts in Education (MAEd) degree concentration (at 12-16 credits). This year-long program is scheduled over four consecutive academic quarters, with options to start in either summer or fall quarter.
From left to right: LEE graduate Brian Gilbert from Beecher’s Cheese, Andrew Fly from 21 Acres Farm, and LEE Program Director Jonathan Garfunkel
As is often the case in our LEE program, this event included some wonderful, locally-sourced food, with bahn mi sandwiches and spring rolls from Vinason’s catering services, as well as volunteered food from some of the places where LEE alumni work: fresh tomatoes from 21 Acres Farm, and cheeses from Beecher’s in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.
Among LEE alumni in attendance was Brian Gilbert, head cheesemonger for Seattle’s world-class Beecher’s Cheese, who described his time as an LEE student as “one of the most fulfilling years of my life.”
LEE Program Director Jonathan Garfunkel explained that LEE curriculum brings students to a variety of local places where food happens, from farms to places of food distribution and food preparation. In Garfunkel’s words, the program explores “every which way we could think about food in education and schools.” LEE classes prepare teachers to pass on wisdom, experience, and knowledge about local food systems to their students in engaging, hands-on ways. Garfunkel also cited a famous Richard Bach quote, “We teach best what we most need to learn”, and added that in LEE “we eat what we most need to learn”.
