Aubrey Cupit first started volunteering at GMS in the fall of 2008 as a student of Dr. Charlie Headington, founder of our permaculture gardening program. He officially joined the team in 2009 and has worked in a variety of positions including CASA faculty, substitute teacher, and facilities staff. Today, Aubrey is a member of our environmental education team and our garden coordinator. He holds his Permaculture Design Certificate and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting with a minor in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Aubrey is a well-known face at our School and in the greater Greensboro area. In addition to his life on campus, Aubrey has his own farm, Gate City Harvest, where he runs a weekly farm stand serving fresh produce from Gate City Harvest and other local farms. Since taking his first class from Charlie, Aubrey has rooted his life in the art of permaculture: a systems-based approach to growing which involves working with and enhancing the natural systems of the Earth.

GMS: Why do you choose to work at our School?

AC: I’m passionate about working with my hands and creating outdoor learning environments that not only offer a diverse learning space for children, but also support the natural world. I enjoy connecting with our students and getting them outside. The School gardens celebrate our collective ecology through permaculture and offer such a unique learning experience for children. They need to be outside!

GMS: How did your job as garden coordinator come to be?

AC: As Charlie was beginning to step away from GMS, there was a need to create stability with the School's garden management. This is how I became the garden coordinator. I’m grateful to have had such a good mentorship with Charlie that allowed me to take on the gardens. My goal is to continue to improve and bolster the garden systems and ecology and perhaps one day, years down the road, I’ll have the opportunity to mentor the next steward of the gardens.  

GMS: How has Charlie inspired you over the years?

AC: Back in college, Charlie would bring all of his students to his house at the end of the year and have a big dinner. His house was a full permaculture landscape, and when I walked in it for the first time, I was amazed at the fact that humans still lived the way he did. It was paradise. I knew from that moment I wanted to be involved with working in a garden.

I have spent nearly 20 years now taking permaculture classes, going to workshops and conferences, visiting other programs, working on farms, and installing permaculture landscapes around Greensboro with Charlie. 

GMS: What does permaculture mean to you?

AC: Permaculture is more than just gardening. It is the idea that we are supposed to take care of people — a very cooperative way of thinking. It means caring about people, caring about the earth, and sharing whatever I can whether that be knowledge or food. 

GMS: What do you love about your job at GMS?

AC: I can’t seem to get enough, and I love sharing my passion with others, along with the many hats I get to wear (literally and figuratively). I get to have my hands on the work but also manage the systems and build schedules. It’s nice to get a little of both. I enjoy working with a team to support the curriculum of the environmental education program, which now has a whole separate culinary arts side to it. The gardens of GMS really bring incredible value to the School and set us apart from any other outdoor education program in the area, if not the state. 

GMS: What aspect of the Montessori method inspires you the most?

AC: I like that Montessori is about the process just as much as the outcome. We learn by doing, by playing, by trying and failing, and by working through hard problems. Dr. Maria Montessori has a great way of allowing children to have this “guided struggle” that ultimately leads to the outcome. I often tell the kids 80% of it is the hard, often boring work, and 20% is the actual harvesting, eating, and cooking with the food. I’m glad to be a part of education that lifts up the process of learning through hands-on work and play, and isn’t just about the end result of assessment and standardization.

GMS: What do you enjoy learning from our students, and what do you enjoy sharing with them?

AC: Children have a great way of bringing you back to the present, to enjoy the moment. I think about the word linger a lot. They still know how to linger. I think as adults we often forget to just stop and linger on some beautiful thing about our day. An example that comes to mind is while working in the garden with them, at any moment one student will find a skink or a frog and the whole class will stop and focus on that moment of life. Instead of seeding or spreading mulch, it’s about enjoying watching this frog, maybe building a little habitat for it, or wondering what it’s doing or where it is going. It’s so nice to be reminded to take that pause because as adults, we are trying to get things done or have seen it so often that we don’t pause to be amazed like we used to. But it’s all so amazing still! 

GMS: You have a few GMS alumni who have worked on your farm, what is it like to have that connection between your own business and the School?

AC: I've hired alumni, and it's just tenfold the difference between them and someone who does not have Montessori experience. It’s the grace and courtesy and the way they interact with people, how they think on their feet, how they are engaged, and the fact that they are self-led and just have their own leadership on what to do next. 

GMS: Tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t learn from your résumé or CV?

AC: I’m a triplet. My mom had three boys at one time, four boys total, and somehow she is still a completely sane person. I can only hope to have her strength. 

GMS: Where did you grow up, and do you mind sharing one favorite memory from childhood? 

AC: I grew up in Greensboro and one of my favorite memories is making milkshakes with my grandmother. To this day I still can’t make them like she could, but I will keep trying.

GMS: Do you have any pets? If so, what are they and what are they named?

AC: Currently no pets. I have about 50,000 plant-pets per farm season. But I think a dog and a couple of donkeys are in my future. 

GMS: Of all the places you’ve traveled to, what is your favorite destination and why?

AC: That’s a tough one. But I think so far, Ecuador was my favorite. I was able to visit Walter Moore, one of our past Spanish teachers there. It is such a beautiful country with an incredible culture.