Meet Julia, a new service member in her hometown of Traverse City, Michigan. Five years ago, Julia was a senior at Suttons Bay High School. For her senior project she worked with the local FoodCorps service member, Kirsten Gerbatsch, to build a school garden.

“Kirsten was obviously a role model for me,” says Julia. “She was cool and smart and older. I thought to myself, ‘Someday I would really like to do what she is doing,’  teaching kids, hosting taste tests, etc. Ever since then, FoodCorps has been penciled in my ‘life plan’ as what I would ideally do after I graduated from college. And now I’m doing it. I have thought about it for such a long time, it’s almost hard to believe it’s actually happening.”

We’re so thrilled that it’s happening! Our service members are influencing students to be adventurous and healthy eaters, and even inspiring some of those students to become healthy food leaders themselves. As we are celebrating five years of FoodCorps, we are celebrating stories like Julia and Kirsten’s.