Educator Spotlight: Jay Stokes

Jay Stokes, an environmental educator at Haw River State Park, recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification. Jay says the certification program helped them find a job. “In this position, I get to meet students all over the state and teach them about the incredible planet they live on. When I’m not teaching, I can be found snuggled up with my three cats and a crochet project in hand.”

When asked about their favorite part of the program, Jay says it was the networking. “My favorite part was meeting all the other awesome educators. The courses take you to parks, museums and libraries that I may have never visited. The people working at those places, and attending those events, really showed me what environmental education can be, and that the community is larger than you think.”

Jay says the experience that really stood out was a road trip with several other educators working on their certification. “We went to Goose Creek State Park to camp and stopped at all sorts of places on our way back for the travel portion! The community that comes from working on this certification really is indescribable.”

For the community partnership project, Jay created and hosted an environmental trivia night at a local business in downtown Greensboro. “It was so much fun, and participants got to put their knowledge to the test. I plan on continuing this project, “Stumped: Environmental Trivia,” to keep reaching my community and spreading awareness about the environment.”

Jay says the program changed their approach to teaching. “I really had to think about how I can reach different audiences. I really want to create programming for younger adults, but for a while I couldn't figure out how. For example, with my community project, it took me time to figure out that I need to go to the audience sometimes! You also need to be patient. It's not going to happen all at once, it takes consistency.”

Jay also says it changed the way they think about environmental issues. “It’s going to sound cheesy, but this program gives me hope. It can be easy to get bogged down by all the bad in the world and just ignore it. Seeing all the people that care, and that care enough to take the time to learn how to get others to care, has changed my attitude quite a bit. Pessimism won’t fix our issues. Empathy and care will help our environment, and I saw that so many times.”