By Brianna Timlin, Sacred Heart Greenwich class of 2026, Co-Editor of King Street Chronicle
Earlier this year, Sacred Heart Greenwich became livelier with the arrival of a flock of chickens. Hatched by the second graders last spring, the chickens moved into their coop in May 2025. Today, ten hens reside on campus at Sophie’s Farm, enriching the school’s agricultural program. The new coop complements the outdoor classroom and garden spaces, providing students with opportunities to engage with science, sustainability, and campus life.
Mr. Michael F. Baber, President of Sacred Heart, has long been passionate about agricultural education. As a young faculty member, he worked on the campus farm, where each summer they ran a six-to-eight-week program, renting animals from Green Chimneys, a rescue and animal preserve. The Society of the Sacred Heart founded a farm at Sacred Heart Greenwich, formerly Convent of the Sacred Heart, in 1982, which later relocated to Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1990, according to rscj.org.
Photo: Brianna Timlin
Today, the legacy of farming on campus lives on through new hands-on agricultural learning opportunities for students.Because Sacred Heart has a greenhouse and gardens, Mr. Baber wanted to create a home for chickens on campus as well. One donor, passionate about the natural world, generously funded the farm for two years, helping to get the chicken coop off the ground. Mr. Baber wants students to have the opportunity to work with real, live animals, which could spark an interest in pre-medicine or veterinary medicine. He believes the farm has great potential and shared his inspiration behind the initiative.
“It really started with the girls themselves,” Mr. Baber said. “For decades, we’ve been doing embryology work in the Lower School science program as part of the curriculum. The girls study embryology, care for the eggs, and watch them hatch. But after a while, they always had to find a home off campus for the very eggs they had been tending to, learning about, spending time with, and caring for. I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could continue the curriculum beyond the brooder and keep the hens on our own campus farm?”
The coop has become a learning opportunity for all students. Ms. Margaret Vondermeden, Mustard Seed Program Teacher, and Ms. Erica Bogin, Lower School Art Teacher and Gallery Director, often bring Lower School students to visit the chickens, where they feed the hens and sketch the flock. When Mr. Baber brings in sheep wool from his farm in South Windsor, Connecticut, Ms. Bogin dyes it with her classes.
Members of the Upper School Garden Club have also visited Sophie’s Farm, and campus bird walks occasionally include the coop as one of their stops.Each morning before school, Dr. David Smigen-Rothkopf, Upper School English Teacher, tends to the flock, while Mr. Cameron McManus, Upper School Theology Teacher, checks on them in the afternoon.
Photo: Brianna Timlin
Over the past three weeks, the hens have laid one to two eggs per day, usually around midday. Caring for the chickens requires daily attention to their water, feed, and shavings, along with occasional treats from the garden. Inside the coop are roosting boxes where the hens lay their eggs and a solar-powered door connected to a heat lamp for the colder months.
The outdoor run provides space for toys and exploration, while the chickens’ thick feathers offer natural insulation. Dr. Smigen-Rothkopf discussed the benefits of agricultural education at Sacred Heart.
Photo: Brianna Timlin
“It’s another reminder of the wealth of resources available on our campus,” Dr. Smigen-Rothkopf said. “You can learn physics from it, explore the outdoors, and deepen your understanding about the outdoor world and education. From the humanities to the sciences, there are countless opportunities. Students should take the initiative to visit and make full use of these resources.”
Members of the community share a desire to make greater use of the campus, and the addition of the chickens represents a step toward doing so in a more formalized way. Little by little, Mr. Baber hopes to see the farm and curriculum grow, but he notes that expansion should be gradual and sustainable. He aims to keep student learning at the center, fostering both success and joy. Mr. Baber wants students to experience the contemplative side of farm life, enjoy the peace of nature, observe the animals, and discover their unique personalities. He emphasized that the farm plays a vital role in holistic education, helping students explore their passions and interests while connecting with the natural world.
Photo: Brianna Timlin
“There is something that the natural cycles of the earth teach us, and that teaching and that experience can inform the brilliance of our work, whether it’s in STEM, writing, art, or even our own poetry or photography,” Mr. Baber said. “The natural world also teaches patience, and I think that Sophie’s Farm and animal husbandry, whether it’s chickens, goats, ducks, or sheep, can help keep things in balance in ways that technology connects us differently. In that sense, it’s a nice counterbalance. It’s much more holistic, and it embodies the simple beauty of creation.”