Meet Amy Magrinat | director, The Lupine Community School

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amy Magrinat and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I worked in a couple of area early childhood educational environments and I just felt there had to be a better way to do things. When the opportunity arose for me to go back to UNC and get my Masters in Early Childhood Education I jumped at the chance! While in grad school, yet another opportunity appeared-I received an offer to start my own preschool on a local farm! This was a dream-I immediately dove in and haven’t looked back. I’ve always wanted to bring children, animals, and the natural world together….now I do that everyday. A couple of years ago a group of parents approached me about starting a non-profit with the goal of expanding the school through elementary, I said yes and now we have purchased our own small farm and are in the process of fundraising and building out our new farm school, The Lupine Community School.

What should our readers know about your business?
Our school’s motto is “nurture through nature” and we take that very seriously. We have a strong focus on inclusion and social emotional learning, and we believe that education should be joyful! We like to say that we are cultivating the next generation of critical, compassionate, and creative thinkers. We hope that by spending time with animals, gardening, and exploring education through the lens of the natural world that surrounds us, children will develop a sense of relationship and responsibility for our planet. We follow the state standards for education and the way we go about it is through following the interests of the children as they engage with the world… all rooted in the seasonal changes around us.

I am incredibly excited to be building out our own farm-we’ll have rescued farm animals to care for, organic vegetable, fruit, and pollinator gardens, adventure playgrounds, and a beautiful “barn school” that has indoor/outdoor classroom spaces for our academic explorations. We are hoping to pilot research into our methods and find ways to work with the public school system-we don’t want to exist in isolation but instead be a vital part of the community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We would go to Kipos or Glass Half Full for dinner, maybe see a show at the Cats Cradle or Haw River Ballroom. We might take walks on one of the beautiful trails around Jordan Lake, at the NC Botanical Gardens, or at Bolin Creek. We could shop for some fresh produce at the Carrboro Farmers Market after grabbing a bite at Neals Deli or Weaver Street Market. This is such a fun area to explore!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I dedicate my shoutout to the book, “Ms Rumphius” by Barbara Cooney! I loved this book as a child, and when my Mom brought a copy to my granddaughter one day, the memories of how influential this book had been on my life flooded over me. I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could make the world more beautiful while I was growing up. Fast forward and now I’ve named the school after this book (the protagonist spreads lupine seeds around the countryside to do something to make the world more beautiful). It is my deepest hope that this school helps to make the world a better and more beautiful place.

Website: https://www.thelupinecommunityschool.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelupinecommunity/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-lupine-community-school/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552312526712