Educator Spotlight: Sarina Dellinger

Sarina with a Big Leaf Magnolia at Hurley Park

Sarina Dellinger, a horticulturalist for the City of Salisbury completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Sarina is the Public Garden Manager for Elizabeth Holmes Hurley Park, an 18-acre garden park in Salisbury where she maintains the landscape, gardens, and interacts with the public. Sarina says the certification program helped her find a job. “I work within parks and recreation, so I am always pushing to bring environmental education to new and existing programs. I am passionate about native plants, maintaining landscapes in an environmentally friendly way and sharing that knowledge with everyone I meet.”

Sarina says her favorite part of earning her certification was meeting people from across the state with similar interests. “I enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone in the programs and learning more about how environmental education connects to classroom teachers. Her time working with Mary Meyer at the US National Wildlife Center really stood out to her. “She introduced me to the world of hands-on environmental education programs, and it was great to work and learn under her direction. I received most of my teaching hours from working with the whitewater center, and I couldn’t have had a better role model.”

For her community partnership project, Sarina focused on bring multiple environmental education programs to the City of Salisbury including tours of the park and a native plant tour and swap. “It was great to see citizens interested in adding native plants to their landscape.”

When asked if the program changed her approach to teaching, Sarina says the program gave her more confidence. “It helped me to learn from more seasoned educators and gave me a new perspective on what it takes to run a successful program.” 

Educator Spotlight: Melissa Amoabeng

Melissa Amoabeng, a farm educator with the Durham Public Schools Hub Farm recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification. Melissa manages the gardens and landscape of the 30-acre Hub Farm site and teaches hands-on environmental programming for all ages. “Working with a small team, I also help manage volunteers, run community events, and write grants. I love how our work is always different every day - but always outside!” 

Originally from Maryland, Melissa grew up exploring the Chesapeake Bay watershed. She found a new home in North Carolina while studying Environmental Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. After earning a master’s degree in Public Health, Melissa worked in school garden education with Guilford County Cooperative Extension 4-H, taught English in France, and worked on several local farms. Most recently, Melissa received a Master’s in Horticultural Science from NC State University focused on public gardens and landscape design. 

When asked about her favorite part of earning her environmental education certification, Melissa says it was a coastal experience. “I loved going out to the coast to participate in the migratory shorebird count on Topsail Island.” She still hopes to do one of the educator institutes of excellence offered by the NC Museum of Natural Sciences one day. Another outdoor experience also stood out for Melissa. “I loved doing native wildflower hikes with other local plant nerds in Durham and getting to really know fellow environmental educators working in my area.” 

For her community partnership project, Melissa organized a series of family fishing events at the Hub Farm with partners including the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, The Ebony Anglers, Boy Scouts, and the UNC-Chapel Hill APPLES Service Learning Program. “These events engaged a different part of our community that we hadn't been serving before, and also connected us to new partners including local scout troops and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.” 

Melissa says the fishing events bring families together outdoors to experience the joy and wonder of catching freshwater fish, which creates a feeling of belonging and positive environmental attitudes. “Older visitors to the Hub Farm often say things like, "Oh, I used to fish these ponds in the 1980s." We also know that the local high school agriculture program used to run an aquaculture program to raise tilapia, trout, and catfish in our ponds in the early 1990s. And students on field trips always ask if there are fish in the pond. So, we decided to merge the historical relevance of fishing in this community and the enduring interests of our current youth by offering a family-friendly environmental education opportunity that is culturally relevant to our majority Black and Hispanic student population.” 

When asked if the program changed her approach to teaching, Melissa said, “Before this program, I really didn't understand the importance of teaching people skills for understanding and engaging in environmental issues, as described in the NAAEE (North American Association of Environmental Education) Guidelines for the Preparation and Professional Development of Environmental Educators. The certification program challenged me to add this new component to my teaching practice, and gave me tools to do so through curricula like Project Learning Tree.” 

Melissa also says the certification program changed the way she thinks about environmental issues. “I learned that it is more important when working with young children to focus on the place where they live - not on faraway places with rainforests and ice caps. I think more locally now about teaching, and that sense of place has become very important to me.”

Educator Spotlight: Megan Rodgers Lane

Megan's Turtle Basking Project at Bass Lake in Holly Springs

Megan Rodgers Lane recently completed her North Carolina Environmental Education Certification. Megan is the public science and internship coordinator for the UNC Institute for the Environment's (IE) Center forPublic Engagement with Science. “I work on many different projects all with the goal of engaging diverse audiences in environmental science and public health using hands-on demonstrations, interactive workshops, and science communication.  We want the public to better understand how the environmental science emerging from UNC-Chapel Hill is important and relevant in our daily lives. K-12 teachers and students are among some of my favorite audiences with which to engage.”

Lake Observations by Citizen Scientists and Satellites Project

During the past two summers, Megan managed a watershed science and stewardship program  for middle and high school teachers. “During a four-day teacher institute, I introduced the participants to researchers and experts in the field and took them on excursions to estuaries and marshes so they could then bring their new experiences and knowledge back to their classrooms.” She also works on a citizen science project called LakeObservations by Citizen Scientists and Satellites (LOCSS) which uses lake level measurements and satellite imagery to better understand how the volume of water in lakes is changing over time around the world. “I am excited to be a part of this NASA funded project because I get the opportunity to engage with citizen scientists in the field and share my excitement about the research our team is conducting.” Before joining UNC IE, Megan earned a BS in Environmental Science with a minor in Nonprofit Studies from NC State University. Then, during her first few years as a research assistant with UNC IE, she earned a MEA in Environmental Assessment with a graduate certificate in GIS, also from NCSU. In her personal time, Megan enjoys hiking, camping, playing disc golf, and taking care of her five backyard chickens with her husband, Joe. They also have a small part-time dog sitting business and love meeting and taking care of new dogs.

Megan at home with her backyard chickens

Megan says the certification program helped advance her career. “Earning my EE certification allowed me to take a larger role in some of the environmental education programming we offer within the Center for Public Engagement with Science.” Megan says her favorite part of earning her certification was getting to know so many people in the environmental education field. “Everyone I met, and continue to meet, has been so knowledgeable about their work and excited about the environment and teaching. I feel so lucky to be part of such a welcoming and fun community. I appreciated the opportunity to take so many different workshops on new topics and visit different areas of the state, and I look forward to continuing that trend as I fulfill my CE credits every year.” Megan notes a few of the workshops that she really enjoyed included NC CATCH, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and Plant Identification: Trees, Shrubs, and Conifers. “I also really enjoyed working on my community partnership project, which involved building turtle basking platforms and applying my expertise in science communication to develop signage for Bass Lake Park in Holly Springs.”

The certification experience that really stood out for Megan and encouraged her to pursue the certification program was the Environmental Education course at NC State University taught by Dr. Gail Jones and Renee Strnad during the fall 2017 semester. “At the time, I was enrolled in the MEA graduate program and was looking for an elective course that interested me and filled a requirement for my degree. I think fall 2017 was the first semester that the course was offered, and I was extremely lucky that I found it and that it was approved to count toward my degree. This course allowed me to earn credit for Basics of Environmental Education and Methods of Teaching Environmental Education, but more importantly, it solidified my interest in environmental education and my desire to learn more and get more involved.” 

For her community partnership project, Megan built turtle basking platforms and installed signage about why turtles bask in the sun for Bass Lake Park. “I live near Bass Lake and visit the park to walk and run almost weekly. During my visits, I often see park visitors pointing at the turtle basking platforms I built and reading the informational signage, which reminds me of the impact my project has on the community. I hope the platforms and signage last for many years and many people get to enjoy them and learn about why turtles bask in the sun.”

Megan at the Water Science and Stewardship Progran for teachers

Megan says the program changed her approach to teaching. “The program has also taught me best practices for implementing environmental education and programming for people/students of all ages and backgrounds and increased my confidence in teaching.”

She says the program also changed the way she views environmental issues. “After participating in the certification program, I now look at environmental issues with a more open-minded approach, instead of bringing in my previous biases. I appreciate learning and teaching about all sides of an issue and letting participants discover and make their own assumptions. All in all, I’ve embraced the emphasis on education, not advocacy.”