Jamie Justice, Education Coordinator for the Museum of Coastal Carolina Completes her NC Environmental Education Certification

Jamie Justice, education coordinator for the Museum of Coastal Carolina recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Jamie is responsible for planning education programming at the museum that focuses on coastal environments. She teaches school groups about coastal habitats and species through interpretive nature walks along the beach and the marsh and by guiding students through the museum’s exhibits. 

Jamie enjoyed going to workshops and networking with other educators to share ideas and learning from other environmental education centers. “I enjoyed going to all of the instructional workshops and getting to participate from the point of view of the student while also learning tips for teaching the curriculum.”

For her community partnership project, Jamie worked with Brunswick Town Fort Anderson to design new trail signs and brochures about the different habitats that are at the site. “I developed a curriculum focused on water quality and macroinvertebrates for fourth and eighth graders that visit the site each year. This project helped the students gain a better understanding of the habitats and species at Brunswick Town in a fun, engaging way and also provided visitors with up to date information about the things they would see as they hiked through the site, while also informing them of some species to look out for that bite or sting.”

Jamie says the program changed the way she thinks about environmental issues. “I’ve changed my focus from the impact humans have on the environment to what we can do to protect the environment and to address the effects we have caused.”

She feels the certification program is well-rounded and covers all areas of environmental education instruction. “It helps keep educators up to date on current issues and provides methods and practice in instructing a diverse audience.”

Mikayla Renn, A Conservation Specialist with the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District Completes Her NC Environmental Education Certification

Mikayla Renn, a conservation specialist with the Wake Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Mikayla supports the director of the Wake SWCD with office administration and operations. She also provides support to their Natural Resource Conservationists in all aspects of both technical and office work. Mikayla believes the certification helped diversify her skills. 

Mikayla's favorite part of earning the certification was gaining knowledge in various fields and having the opportunity to explore North Carolina. “One of my favorite experiences was a mushroom identification workshop. I have always wanted to learn mushroom identification but never had the time to learn on my own. We found tons of mushrooms that day, some of which I had never seen before. It was such a fun experience trekking through the woods and learning with other educators."

For her community partnership project, Mikayla created three educational resources for the Bailey and Sarah Williamson Preserve. “With these resources, visitors of the preserve will learn about the preserve's pollinator garden and will discover ways they can implement native landscaping at home." 

Although she is not currently an environmental educator, she uses skills she learned in the program while speaking to the public and creating web content and newsletters. “I try to incorporate more visual and auditory components into these resources instead of just written content.”

Mikayla says, “obtaining this certification changed the way I look at environmental issues. It's not black and white. There are multiple viewpoints and cultural dynamics to take into consideration.”

Julia Hardy, a Conservation Program Education Specialist and Administrative Assistant for Wilkes County Soil and Water Conservation District Completes Her NC Environmental Education Certification.

Julia Hardy, a Conservation Program Education Specialist and Administrative Assistant for Wilkes County Soil and Water Conservation District completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. 

When she is not working, Julia enjoys spending time with her husband and two children outdoors, riding horses, playing with her four dogs, and helping with her church youth group. Her favorite part of earning her certification was meeting other educators in the program and learning different ways to educate others about the environment. 

Julia says the certification experience that stands out for her is the NA Bat Acoustic Monitoring Program. For this program she volunteered to drive a North American Bat monitoring route with equipment provided by NC Wildlife Resources Commission attached to her vehicle to collect bat data. The data was based on the sounds from the bats collected digitally at night. “My husband and children were able to go with me when the route was driven and were we able to not only hear the bats being found with the equipment but with the use of a tablet we were also able to see 2-3 suggested types of bats that the system recognized. The best part is all this was going back to research and we will eventually get results to let us know for sure what we heard and saw, also, we never realized how many bats are really always around us or even how many varieties of bats are in our area!”

For her community partnership project, Julia created online folder of lessons as a resource for other educators and students. “When the stay-at-home order began for COVID-19, everyone was in panic mode to do virtual/distance learning. I had already started the process of creating sample lessons to share with my local teachers to help promote my environmental lessons. As time went on, I talked with the local 4-H extension agent, local women’s Farm Bureau group, and other soil and water educators. Everyone I talked with was needing some way to share our resources, ideas, and lessons.” Julia was able to share the resources with other educators and new lessons and modifications are continuously being added. Julia recently added a virtual field trip to for 5th-9th graders. She offers to do all the lessons virtually, in-class, or in outside spaces with students.

Julia says participating in the certification program helped her tremendously. “I changed my approach to teaching others by learning how to read the group and making needed adjustments during the lesson to keep everyone engaged.”

Julia says the program changed the way she approaches environmental issues. “The program provided me with the tools to help others understand and learn from the environment around them including what impacts their environment and how to care for the environment.”