Elena Greenberg
Elena Greenberg was born and raised in San Diego, California where she first developed her love for nature and passion for community health. While earning her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from Northern Arizona University, she founded the first Arizona chapter of the Food Recovery Network. This student-run organization diverted 5,000 lbs of food waste by recovering perishable food that would otherwise go to waste from the on-campus cafeteria and donating it to people in need at local homeless shelters and food banks. After graduating, she served with FoodCorps for two terms in Prescott, Arizona. FoodCorps is a nationwide team of AmeriCorps service members that connect kids to healthy foods in school so that they can lead healthier lives and reach their full potential. Most recently, she worked as a garden teacher for K-8 students on the Santo Domingo and Cochiti reservations in New Mexico where she expanded her knowledge and skills with place-based and identity-based teaching.
Elena is a graduate student in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and has recently joined WISE as a Program Coordinator for The Bio/Diversity Project. She is working alongside the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Friends of Saguaro National Park, and the National Park Service to help diversify the voices involved in the discussions of the problems and solutions involved in environmental science. Elena will be partnering UA undergraduate students with K-12 schools to assist in the development and implementation of environmental science curricula that is both place-based and culturally-relevant for all participating students.
For fun, Elena likes to go on runs and hikes with her puppy, Max.