Meet Jordan Johnson of City Garden School

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Johnson.

Hi Jordan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story began like many stories, realized what I was doing wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore. It wasn’t serving me, I didn’t feel fulfilled, and maybe most importantly, I didn’t believe in my work. What I was doing was teaching fourth grade in a public school. I loved teaching, and I looked forward to seeing my students and building connections within our content, but it was how I was being told to do that sparked a fire in me to change something. My goal was always to inspire a deep curiosity and a love of learning in my students. I could see that forcing students to sit quietly in a concrete room and absorb 7 hours of instruction with little movement or exposure to anything besides a screen- was not getting me closer to my goal. So, with my daughter approaching Kindergarten age, I decided to explore an educational route that I could be proud to be a part of and feel good about sending her to.

I enrolled in the Mizzou ELPA program (Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis) and committed myself to learn how to change things from the top down. During this time, I found an outdoor preschool named Blue Fox Farm, and I was sending my two young children there and learning SO much about all that outdoor education can offer a student and their family!! I was enamored and turned into that annoying person who gladly jumped onto my soapbox and rattled off about how important time in nature is, how it can change your body chemistry, how it reduces anxiety and depression, build social responsibility, etc. I chose to research and present every opportunity I got in my ELPA program about Outdoor Ed. I was a woman on a mission. I had accidentally found my passion. I finished my graduate degree and was left with the question, “now what?”

That was answered when I saw a posting for a director position at City Garden School—a small, private school in Columbia, MO- offering nature immersion and arts integration. I updated my resume, sent it off, and crossed my fingers that the stars would align.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
The road has been anything but smooth. I would call it a hike through the mountains more than a road! The year and a half it took me to complete my master’s was physically and mentally the most challenging year of my adult life. I look back and shudder at that year and a half. I’d just had a baby who had some medical complexities that made it hard for him (and so then me) to sleep. I was deep in the throes of postpartum anxiety. I was running two small businesses out of my home to contribute financially, and it was 2020-2021, so also navigating the pandemic.

Thanks for sharing that. So, you could tell us a bit more about your business.
City Garden School places significance on each child as a whole being in all aspects. Our mission reads, “City Garden School educates children’s hands, hearts, and minds with an intellectually rich curriculum that inspires wonder, reverence, and creativity. We honor and nurture the development of each child, infuse art and storytelling into every subject, and use the natural world as our classroom so children may grow with a capacity for empathy and a will to improve the world.”

As educators, we strive to create balance for each child by nourishing the thinking, feeling, and being willing with truth, beauty, and goodness, a mind that is sharpened with a wise and thoughtful intellect in the head, a soft heart that recognizes the beauty of the world, and strong hands that revere the strength of humankind.

City Garden is known for how much time our kids spend outside. There is a misconception that we don’t formally teach, actually, haha! That could not be further from the truth. Our rigorous curriculum is also meant to inspire beauty, creativity, and free thinking. Our purpose is to help develop children who are mentally, physically, and spiritually strong and who will change the world. I see this mission fulfilled every day!

What do you think about happiness?
No shocker here, but being outside makes me happy. A solo hike is the best meditation and opportunity for prayer that I’ve ever encountered. I immediately feel the difference in myself when I make time for that! So, seeing kids get the same opportunity for wellness in their education is everything to me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.citygardencolumbia.org/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/citygardenschool/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CityGardenSchool

Image Credits
headshot: Cherrybird photography