9th-12th Grade Math and Science Teacher in Richmond, VA
Lynnhaven School
2024-25 Fellow Britt Usiak has spent over a decade as an educator and is passionate about creating interdisciplinary, student-led, and project-based learning experiences in various educational contexts. She is currently the STEM Teacher at Lynnhaven School – Richmond, Virginia’s only project-based high school – where she teaches geometry, ecology, and naturalist classes and serves as the rock climbing coach. Her work is rooted in the belief that learning should foster awe and wonder; strengthen connections to ourselves, the land, and each other; and support students in becoming engaged citizens in their communities.
Gardening and farming are what first brought Britt to food education. Early in her career she created a campus community garden with an accompanying food justice and STEM curriculum and saw first-hand how it transformed students’ relationships to school, helping them feel more engaged, empowered, and inquisitive. Since then, she has earned a Certificate in Urban Agriculture from Memphis Tilth, started another successful school-based community garden, and co-founded the community garden at her synagogue. She has also forayed into foraging and is a Virginia Master Naturalist. Britt holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.S. from Virginia Tech.
Favorite Food Education Standard:
FES 3 – Food and the environment are interconnected. I am deeply passionate about the connections between food, environmental, and social justice issues, and the way the environment can quickly become a place of community and connection through food. Food’s fundamentality helps students connect with the land around them and the more than human world, vital practices, especially in our challenging societal times.
A Favorite Food Memory or Recipe:
Everyone should grow garlic! The first time I grew garlic was with students during the 2019-2020 school year, an experiment so successful that my family had to harvest, cure, and eat 150+ heads on our own due to COVID lockdown restrictions. I now grow over 100 heads each year on my microfarm to save, eat, and share, have built a connection to this plant as part of my ancestral foodways (I’m Jewish and my family is from Poland), and learned a lot about it’s healing properties. My favorite varieties to grow are Music and German Extra Hardy.
What I’m Most Excited About as a New Fellow:
One of my primary post-pandemic focuses in the classroom is supporting students’ individual and communal well-being, particularly in reconnecting with themselves and each other in positive ways. Food education consistently engages students and helps them see deeper, tangible implications for a topic they are already interested in, while also strengthening their connections to their identities and communities. I’m excited to learn more ways to integrate this into my teaching!
