Monique Eckerd, Research Operations Manager at Appalachian State University Completes NC Environmental Education Certification.

Monique Eckerd, Research Operations Manager at Appalachian State University, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification.

Monique, who is also a Board Member with the Watauga Humane Society, an avid hiker, and gardener says the certification program gave her the tools to teach more informed camps as a volunteer with the Humane Society. She also enjoyed meeting other environmental educators and making new friends.

For Monique’s community partnership project, she rebuilt and enhanced the Watauga Humane Society Walking Trails. The Humane Society sits on a 13-acre tract of land in southern Watauga County which includes several acres of walking trails behind the main shelter building which are open to the public and until the initiation of this project were poorly maintained and marked. The walking trails wind through a stand of established woods with native tree species including maples, oaks, black gum, Frazier fur, white pine, and Frazier magnolia. The walking trails are rich with understory species such as rhododendron, and mountain laurel and smaller plants such as Jack-in-the-Pulpit, ferns, running cedar, and turkey’s beard which cover the woods floor.

Working in partnership with Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Camp Cats and Canines, Gear Up, Appalachian State student volunteers and community volunteers, she was able to raise awareness of the resources and advantages of well-maintained trails for community use, engage volunteer groups in the establishment of a pollinator garden at the trail entrance and to educate volunteers on the importance of pollinators in the environment.

Monique says the trails are more widely used by community members to walk their pets and observe an old-growth stand of native trees and plants. “Humane Society volunteers have a safe and well-marked area to walk shelter dogs. Former campers have a permanent reminder of their service projects to show to their parents they feel connected to their community and the environment. Pollinators in the area have a garden to visit which brings more interest by trail users in the role of pollinators in a healthy ecosystem.”

When asked about changes in her teaching or environmental views after completing the program Monique says she as a more holistic approach to nature. “I am able to integrate that view into the learning experience. It's easy to focus on one part of an issue or concern, after participating in the program, I am able to see in the interrelationships that make up the bigger picture.”

Jessie Kerr, Educator at Foothills Equestrian Nature Center Completes Her NC Environmental Education Certification

Jessie Kerr recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification Program offered through the Department of Environmental Quality. Jessie works as an Environmental Educator at the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE) in Tryon.

In her role at FENCE, Jessie coordinates outreach programs to local elementary schools, leads field trips and organizes their summer nature camps. She also develops new programs and cares for the animals that live at the center. “When I’m not fostering a love of nature in area youth, you can find me enjoying live music, chasing waterfalls or in my hammock with my lab puppy, Bear.”

Her favorite part of earning her certification was participating in conferences. “I love connecting with other environmental educators and seeing the wonderful accomplishments of my peers. I always enjoy the informational sessions and guest speakers.” Jessie says the workshops and curriculum guides have proved to be incredibly useful in my work, especially with her summer camps. One of her favorite workshops was Project OWL offered by The North Carolina Arboretum.  “My favorite activity being the Microtrek hike with circles of tied yarn to encourage students to explore forest biodiversity on the ground. Having become one of my staples, I always keep pieces of yarn in my pack for this activity during camps and hikes!”

The certification experience that stands out to Jessie was participating in the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher’s first Baja Island Ecology Educator Program. “I was able to connect with some amazing educators across the state and brainstorm ways to bring our experiences back to the students we teach.”

While acquiring her teaching hours, Jessie taught a recycling program at a local elementary school in which they investigated Styrofoam in landfills. Following the program, the first-grade class started a campaign to end the use of the Styrofoam water cups in their cafeteria.

For her community partnership project, she collaborated to create an eco-art installation using the theme of waste reduction focusing on single use plastics. The project included a local trash cleanup during which items were collected and then used as the materials to create the installation. The installation included informational signage and following the project, Jessie provided programming to an after-school group on the topic.

Jessie says she has learned a lot about how environmental education is delivered to students in the classroom. “As a nonformal educator, I was unaware of the discrepancies of EE in the classroom, namely climate change lessons. Exploring information provided in many of the workshops, like the Earth Day 50 session, I learned how little time is devoted each year to related programming and how many classroom teachers are uncomfortable presenting this information. These findings have helped me further understand the importance and need of my role. In my position at a small nonprofit nature center, I travel to classrooms grades K-5 to regularly provide EE programming to schools at no cost. As such, we visit several schools a day, allowing for noteworthy impacts and reach. I am evermore dedicated to bridging that gap in programming and serving as a resource for teachers in my area.”

City of Raleigh Nature Instructor Laurie Nielsen Completes Her NC Environmental Education Certification

Laurie Nielsen recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification Program. Laurie has been a nature instructor with the City of Raleigh Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Nature Program for six years.

She teaches a variety of science and nature programs for students PreK through 5th grades, both in the school setting and at various parks throughout the city. “Most of our students are visiting the parks on a field trip, and I absolutely love helping the young people (as well as their adult chaperones) discover and explore nature with hands-on activities! I simply can't get enough of dip-netting in a pond, looking for insects in a meadow, or sharing our reptiles with eager learners.”

Laurie has also been a volunteer docent with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences Curiosity Classes for the past six years, helping to teach museum programs and visiting school groups. “When I'm not teaching, I spend lots of time outdoors, especially with my family. I like hiking all over the state of North Carolina, bicycling, paddling and floating, and photographing amazing finds in nature.”

Laurie’s favorite part of earning her certification was working with the City of Raleigh Teen Outreach Program (TOPS) to complete her community partnership project. She worked with young people in the TOPS program and their counselors to paint murals of North Carolina native butterflies on the concrete sewer risers along a section of the Greenway trail south of Shelley Lake. Laurie’s project was featured on an ABC Channel 11 news broadcast, “Citizen-led public art project turns sewer risers on Raleigh greenway into a canvas.”

“I was surprised to hear so many positive comments from Greenway users, saying that they enjoyed and appreciated the nature art in this much-used space. I was glad to help arrange a project that benefited the young artists, many of whom had not been aware of the greenways before, and that helped beautify and provide nature awareness for a range of greenway users for years to come! Her project helped the teens spend meaningful time outdoors learning about native species, beautified outdoor structures along a well-visited corridor, and educated the public about some of the butterflies they may glimpse while using the Greenway.

Laurie says that one experience that stood out for her was from a bird identification program. Over a period of about four hours, her group identified approximately 50 species of bird within Durant Nature Preserve. “It was an amazing experience for me because about half of those species were migratory ones I'd never seen before. It was a special experience to bond with others who were equally excited about exploring nature, and the first time I officially went birding."

After completing the certification program, Laurie says she is much more aware of the components of effective environmental education. “I know that environmental education goes beyond sharing information, and that it can ideally lead to changes in participants’ attitudes and empower people with the skills to make changes. It provided me with so many ideas to make lessons effective for different audiences!”

Teacher at Central Park School for Children in Durham Completes the NC Environmental Education Certification Program

Anna Morrison, a first-grade teacher at Central Park School for Children in Durham, recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification Program.

Central Park is a project-based school and Anna enjoys integrating the environment into the students’ projects. She has completed several projects with students on topics such as trees and forest animals with the help of park rangers from Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, Eno River State Park and from staff at Piedmont Wildlife Center. Students also completed a farm project and visited local farms including Woodcrest Farm in Hillsborough. “I am passionate about taking my students outside five or more times a day to explore, walk, play, learn, observe and garden! I also love to integrate mindfulness into the classroom and outside with my first graders.”

Anna is also passionate about equity and diversity in and out of the classroom and believes environmental education has a huge role to play in it. She was fortunate to partner with Village of Wisdom [villageofwisdom.org] this school year and be a part of a Black Genius [blackgenius.com] pilot program at Central Park School for Children. This program is aimed at elevating and nurturing Black student’s talents, intellect, and creativity instead of negating them. She says, “Learning to see and know my Black students’ interests better and plug into them inside the classroom or outside has been crucial to connecting to and elevating them.”

For her community partnership project Anna organized a farmer's market in front of the school. This was culminating event at the close of her first-grade students’ farm project. She invited local farmers that the students had visited as well as local businesses that could benefit from this partnership. “We asked school families that had gardens to contribute any produce they had, and our class was able to share it with our school's students and families. It was a wonderful event and celebration as we shared our love of farms with our school community and introduced them to local farmers and businesses. My students were overjoyed to stand behind tables and sell produce and help support local farmers. What a beautiful way to support our environment!”

Anna says that the Methods of Teaching Environmental Education stood out for her because she was able to take it with her husband Scott Morrison, an Associate Professor of Education at Elon University who is also working on his certification. They both share an interest in getting kids outdoors.   
                                               

Anna says she wishes more classroom teachers took advantage of this certification as well as the workshops and classes. “I have been inspired in my trainings and try to transfer bits and pieces of what I have learned along the way with this certification with my first graders. This may come out in the way of teaching them to make a nature journal on Instagram during the pandemic or a lesson from Flying Wild during a bird project. The more I learn and spend time in nature, the more I want to share with my students.

Anna says the certification program helped inspire her to start a walking curriculum with her students this past year which got them outdoors every day at 9:00 a.m. for a walk- rain or shine! “My favorite walk was when one of my students noticed a big bird at the top of an oak tree on the big loop. We all gathered under to watch. It was silent as students just took in the sight of a really big bird right up above. We were VERY still as to not disturb the bird. We were all captivated. Turns out it was a hawk. What a discovery! Every day, we felt like explorers!”

Anna hopes that more classroom teachers will pursue their environmental education certification. “Our students need this! Students need to be outside and learning about our environment! The materials from Project Learning Tree, Project Wet, Aquatic Wild, Flying Wild and many others have been incredible resources for me as a classroom teacher. I am so grateful to walk alongside other NC Environmental Educators and share with others my love of nature and care for protecting our environment.”