OUR STORY
Like most Teach for America alumni, Adam Zmick and May Tsupros first taught in under-resourced high schools. Their experiences working in food insecure communities lead them to realize how vital healthy food was to their students' growth, both in and out of the classroom.
After one of May’s students, a high school senior, couldn’t identify a blueberry, she began to consider what her students were eating. Through first-hand observations, she witnessed how lack of healthy food was an obstacle to her students’ success. May needed a way for her students to take ownership of their nutrition.
Adam worked with a student who struggled in the classroom but flourished outside in the school garden. On the last garden day she was quite upset and worried her new school wouldn’t have a garden. It was then that Adam knew: no matter where a student goes to school, everyone should have a garden program.
In the fall of 2013, Adam and May met and joined forces to, just months later, found Gardeneers. Designed to give students in food insecure communities equal access to healthy fruits and vegetables, Gardeneers is dedicated to school garden education in Chicago.

Gardeneers is the only Chicago-based nonprofit providing full-service, customized school garden programs with on-going support. When schools lack the time and resources to sustain garden programs, we ensure their success.
OUR PILLARS
MEET OUR TEAM
MAY TSUPROS
CO-FOUNDER
ADAM ZMICK
CO-FOUNDER
JESS ZANDER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
STAFF
Alex Rosen
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
Alexis Burnley
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Amanda Berry
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Amanda Fieldman
GRANT COORDINATOR
Brittany Harthan
PROGRAM MANAGER
Cecilia Jordan
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Christina Sechang
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Dannah Abel
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Daniel Charlie Cortes
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Ian Wiley
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Ishmeal Mendoza
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Jaime Flores
GARDEN EDUCATOR
Kathy Tsang
GARDEN EDUCATOR
Leah Goldboom
PROGRAM MANAGER
Maria Cancilla
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Paris Monaghan
OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR
Rebecca MacDonald
GARDEN EDUCATOR
Rolando Perez
GARDEN EDUCATOR
Sarah Haselhorst
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Selma Sims
FARM MANAGER
Siobhan Rubsam
AMERICORPS SERVICE MEMBER
Stacey Kimmons
GARDEN EDUCATOR
Taryn Randle
GARDEN EDUCATOR
