Board of Directors

Erin Conahan

Coordinator of School, Family, & Community Partners for the School District of Lancaster

Erin has a background in cross-sector community engagement, resource development, and creating positive solution-oriented relationships in the Lancaster County community for over 20 years. She graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s in Integrative Arts and a Master’s in Art Education from Kutztown University. Erin has served on boards that have supported rural communities, homelessness, immigration, and refugee resettlement and grassroots coalition building. Erin is very excited to serve on the board and support the Edible Classroom. Erin and her husband Mark live in Manheim Township with their two daughters Nora and Fiona, in her spare time Erin can be found bike riding through Lancaster County, cooking, and making the perfect Bloody Mary.

Carmen Guaigua

Carmen grew up in Ecuador and moved to the United States in 1986 when she was 9 years old. She currently lives in Lancaster with her husband and children Lucila and twins, Jorge and Astromelia.

Since the twins were born in 2015, she has been a stay-at-home mom dedicating her time to working with her son, Jorge, who is on the Autism spectrum. Prior to this, she worked in the School District of Lancaster and Powell Steel, and holds a PhD in Business Administration. 

She is excited to serve on The Edible Classroom board and to serve her local community. The program gave her son the opportunity to join and accommodate his needs and his support system. Her children have loved attending the classes and camp offered by the program and loved watching them learn so much and find joy in sharing with others what they learned.

Julie Kennedy

Associate Director of Community Initiatives for United Way, Lancaster

Julie Kennedy is a Lancaster native; she calls herself a “boomerang,” though, as she lived in Philadelphia, PA, and Augusta, GA, before returning to the area in 2015. She serves as the Associate Director of Community Initiatives at United Way of Lancaster County and came to know of The Edible Classroom through her non-profit network. A recent graduate of Millersville University, her bachelor’s degree is in Social Innovation Design – her call is finding creative solutions to age-old problems. Julie is passionate about early childhood education and loves to see young children get excited about fresh and healthy foods. As someone who rarely ate their veggies in her youth, she regrets she didn’t have The Edible Classroom in her life then! Julie lives in Manheim Township with her husband, Joe, and their two daughters, 15-year-old Ruby and 3-year-old Nova.

Lori Noyes

Teacher

Lori grew up with a garden in her parents’ backyard, and has dabbled in gardening vegetables and flowers in smaller spaces for the past 25 years. In 2011, she was looking for a way to engage students and increase writing skills, so she started a Three Sisters Garden with her third graders at Blue Ball Elementary School, which also provides a hands-on opportunity for students to learn about Agriculture, Native Americans, and Scientific Observation. Shortly after implementing the school garden, Lori began participating in Lighten Up Lancaster County’s School and Community Garden Group. She is honored to be a part of The Edible Classroom in order to bring garden experiences to more schoolchildren in the county. Lori has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Penn State University and a master’s degree in Elementary Education, Curriculum & Instruction from Eastern Mennonite University, as well as a Math Coach Endorsement from Immaculata University.  Lori and her husband, Dave, live in Brownstown and are the parents of two grown sons.

Dr. Carl Pike

(Retired)

Carl is a retired faculty member of Franklin and Marshall College, having taught plant physiology, biochemistry, introductory biology, and food and nutrition from 1971 to 2012. His current community involvement includes serving as board member and chairperson of the Education Committee, Lancaster County Conservancy; member of Lighten Up Lancaster County Coalition (serving on the School and Community Gardening Committee); member and chairperson of Lancaster City Shade Tree Commission; and member of Lancaster Tree Tenders. His past community involvement includes board member of Community First Fund; board member of Salud Hispana; member of Board of Directors, School District of Lancaster (6 years as vice president, 2 years as president).