Our People Matter

WPC Staff

Stella Barrett

SCA School Greening Fellow, Community Greening

Not many jobs at WPC require a person to create giant worms out of an old pair of tights, pillow stuffing and wire hangers. Come to think of it, there’s only one such job, and it belongs to Stella Barrett.

As SCA School Greening Fellow with the community greening program since 2025, Stella assists with creating and executing learning activities at WPC’s School Grounds Greening sites.

No one day is like any other. “During the fall, I spent some days assisting with plantings in our community gardens,” she says. “I spent most of October preparing for and helping to host four different pumpkin patch events (at schools).”

Recently, she edited videos for a future project, and created an activity in which staff and fifth grade students will design signage for the Concord school garden.

Arts and crafts are a regular part of Stella’s job. In addition to creating the aforementioned worm, “I painted eight different sheets to be used as decorations at the pumpkin patches. Walking by my desk in the weeks leading up to the pumpkin patches really must have been something to see!”

Stella works mornings in a preschool classroom at The Discovery School, a separate job that she says allows her to bring a unique, insightful approach to WPC’s SGG work at early childhood education centers.

“I have the most fun when I can be in the field with the kiddos!” Stella says, recalling one rainy autumn day when 30-plus fifth graders helped to remove annual flowers from a community garden to prepare the beds for winter. “They all started the day pretty miserable, but by the end we (almost) all were smiling,” she says. “I had so much fun watching them turn things into a game, answering their questions about the garden, and watching them work together as a team.”