Summers on the Big Red Farm

During the summer, the Big Red Farm and the Office of Sustainability run two paid internships for Lawrenceville students. The Big Red Farm, our 30-acre educational farm, produces much of the food we consume in Tsai Commons and Abbott Dining Room. Seven students are selected to work there for 11 weeks in the summer, helping out with different aspects of running the Farm. The Restoration Ecology program also works on the Farm as well as other natural areas owned by Lawrenceville to enhance and preserve the wildlife habitats. Five students are selected for this internship each summer, which takes up five mornings per week, during which they also visit nearby restoration sites and make a poster for the Fall Academic Showcase.

Director of Sustainability and Science Teacher Stephen Laubach P’23 ’27 helps oversee both of the summer internships. In the Restoration Ecology program, Laubach described that they “restore ecosystems because the School owns around 640 acres of land, including 200 acres of forests and wetland, where [they] can remove invasive species.” In order to preserve the beauty of Lawrenceville’s vast campus, people must work to plant native species and remove invasive species, so it is a great opportunity for students to learn about ecology while doing hands-on fieldwork. Laubach also stated that the program raises awareness of the land ethics that calls for an ethical, caring relationship between people and nature—a cause put forth by Lawrenceville alumni Aldo Leopold, Class of 1905 and a notable ecologist and conservationist.

Leo Min ’26 participated in the Restoration Ecology program last summer. As Min puts it, the goal of the program was to “make Lawrenceville a more beautiful and sustainable place.” In the course of the week-long program, Min “learned about the beauty of nature and plants.” His experience “involved [spending] four long hours in the sun” planting native species, but he said it was worth it because the plants were stunning. Every aspect of the program instilled in Min a strong passion and adoration for all aspects of the great outdoors. He encourages everyone to see his work at Deans Garden for Native and Medicinal Plants, which is on the Lawrenceville campus near Franklin Corner Road.

Laubach, who drops in to observe the Big Red Farm internship program once a week, described it as an opportunity to “educate students on how to grow organic food, from [sowing] seeds and harvesting to connecting them with what it means to treat the soil well.” Everything on the Big Red Farm is grown naturally and without the use of chemical pesticides and insecticides, instilling the ideology of Aldo Leopold’s land ethics in the participants. In this program, he enjoys “seeing students’ passion for working on a farm and growing vegetables” grow, which is an unfamiliar role for many Lawrenceville community members. 

Ava Moses ’26, a Big Red Farm intern, described that she and other interns would help take care of the animals, seed and plant vegetables and fruits, learn about organic and sustainable ways of living, and “so much more.” The program taught Moses not only “responsibility and discipline but also how detailed and specific the work on the Farm is.” Moses noted that “Macdonald and Bois are both incredibly hardworking people” and encourages everyone to try getting involved at the Big Red Farm at least once during their time at Lawrenceville.

Both of these summer programs provide very comprehensive and personal experiences for students to get involved with the Lawrenceville campus and nature. By participating in experiential learning like this, students can be transformed in a way that they cannot in many classroom lessons.