Raised by a family of passionate gardeners, Bari Applebaum developed an early connection to nature. She started her first gardening business in middle school and, as a teenager, built a community garden where children learned to grow food and excess produce supported a local food bank. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Bari taught Chemistry and Health at Manual Arts High School in South Los Angeles. Inspired by her own hands-on environmental studies courses, she wanted her students to have similar opportunities to learn through their environment and began integrating the school garden into her classes. As advisor to the student group Chicas Verdes, Bari supported students as they revitalized an underused garden and used the space to address food and green-space access through an environmental justice lens. While teaching, she earned her Master’s in Secondary Education from Johns Hopkins University, where her graduate research examined how outdoor experiential learning influences student health and connection to community. Today, Chicas Verdes has engaged more than 2,200 students at 9 schools, generated 50,000+ hours of outdoor learning experiences, and helped distribute 1.8 million pounds of produce to 71,000+ families. As Executive Director, Bari leads the School Garden Challenge, a scalable model that gives schools the curriculum, tools, and systems to help young people identify environmental challenges and lead solutions in their own communities.