Kristin Rosser, Outdoor Recreation Specialist for Mecklenburg County Completes Her N.C. Environmental Education Certification

Kristin is an Outdoor Recreation Specialist at Latta Nature Center in Mecklenburg County where she teaches environmental education courses and leads adventure tours. She is also completing a Master of Science in Environmental Education at Montreat College.

Kristin says the certification program has provided her with skills she will continue to use as she provides programs and tours. “It is a well-respected and difficult certification to receive and I am proud to have completed it. I think it will definitely help me professionally in the future.”

When asked what she liked best about the program, Kristin says it was the level of organization in the program’s curriculum, the accessibility and application of standards, and the variety of activities provided for each set of lesson plans.

For her community-based project, Kristin created a geocaching lesson plan to introduce students to maps, orienteering, geocaching, and nature. Children are taught how to read, create, and follow a map as they use Global Positioning System (GPS) to find caches with nature facts. “This lesson plan has been used by schools visiting Reedy Creek Nature Preserve. It gets them outside while still sharpening their technological and naturalist skills.”

Kristin says the program gave her many more tools to pull from and that she is more prepared and practiced at educating as a result. “Since every workshop I completed touched on environmental issues, I am well versed in basic environmental issues. While I am more prepared to teach about them because of the certification program, I am also more motivated to make changes in my own life!”