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Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public SchoolsAuthor: Dr. Brian Graham
This podcast is designed to celebrate all that is good in Public Education around Western New York. We will be featuring programs and innovative ideas that inspire and influence our students, faculty, staff and community in new and exciting ways. Language: en-us Genres: Education Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Where Learning Takes Root: East Aurora’s Hands-On Approach to Sustainability.
Episode 23
Sunday, 3 May, 2026
In this episode of Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public Schools, we visit East Aurora Union Free School District to celebrate a powerful example of authentic, hands-on learning.Superintendent Brian Russ joins the podcast to share the story behind East Aurora High School’s Sustainable Agriculture program, launched during the 2023–2024 school year on the district’s beautiful 107-acre campus, once family farmland. Rather than simply honoring the land’s history, East Aurora is bringing it back to life as a “living laboratory” where students learn through farming, animal care, composting, soil health, sustainability, food systems, entrepreneurship, and service to the community.This episode also features 12th grader Maya Reynolds, along with the work of teachers Jeff Shelley and Ethan Hansen, who are helping students connect science, environmental stewardship, responsibility, business, and community in meaningful ways.At its heart, this conversation is about what happens when public schools create learning experiences that are real, relevant, and rooted in place. East Aurora’s Sustainable Agriculture program reminds us that students can do more than study the world around them. They can help sustain it, improve it, and grow from it.Find us on Twitter @NiagaraErieOr visit our website E-NSSA.org
