Educator Spotlight: Jennifer Browndorf

Jennifer Browndorf, a retired public-school teacher, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Jennifer credits the certification with helping her start an “encore” or post-retirement career with NC State Parks as the School Education Assistant. 

In this role, Jennifer helps teachers, schools, students, and other youth connect with rangers and parks to learn more about the natural resources that make NC State Parks special. “I develop and facilitate professional education to support classroom teachers' efforts to teach using the outdoors. I also conduct park field trip programming for school and youth groups.” In her personal time, Jennifer says one of her hobbies is volunteering with the Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trail. “I am the trailhead litter coordinator for Segment 10. I also am a backpacker and bikepacker. I enjoy bird watching, day hiking, and nature journaling.”

Jennifer says her favorite part of earning her certification was the workshops and site visits. “I loved getting to learn such a wide variety of topics in diverse locations. Exploring new topics and places gives me such inspiration that when I returned, I was ready to try out something that I had learned or to share info about something that I had seen.”

When asked about the part of the program that stood out for her, she says it was the teaching experiences. “I was trained as a formal educator, however, the EE programs or lessons that I completed for my certification were in a non-formal setting. I was really applying what I had learned about teaching in the outdoors, creating engaging hands-on lessons, and making the content relevant to inspire the visitor. The teaching time was a great way to practice and learn how to transition from traditional to non-traditional. The goal isn't to master content but to inspire stewardship action.”

For her community partnership project, Jennifer worked with volunteers from Friends of the Mountains to Sea, Keep Durham Beautiful, and Big Sweep of Wake County to host litter clean-up events at trailheads, along shorelines, and creeks at both Falls Lake and Eno River State Parks. “I planned and executed several large cleanup events resulting to this date in about 8,000 pounds of litter being removed from our watershed. I have maintained these relationships and have more cleanups planned throughout the coming months. The project is not over - it is ongoing.” Jennifer wants to continue to increase people’s awareness for their impact on their watershed and how they can reduce it.  

Jennifer says participating in the certification program helped her become more comfortable teaching outdoors. “I am more confident about how to manage groups in an outdoor/field setting. In addition, I have increased my knowledge about NC natural resources, wildlife resources, and the agencies that protect and serve our public spaces. I learned that teaching a person about different natural resources is great, but if you can teach them why it is special, they will be more inspired to protect it. People need to experience the environment using all their senses to help them move stewardship from awareness to action.”

She also says the program changed some of her thoughts about environmental issues. “I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have organic conversations with students and visitors. I am more open to learning about the issue from their point of view. The door to dialogue about environmental impacts is more open when people have had a positive experience with the environment. People are more willing to share thoughts and ideas after they have learned why it is special.

Educator Spotlight: Katy Menne

Katy Menne recently completed her Environmental Education Certification. Katy, a Curator of Education with the NC Maritime Museum at Southport recently took a position as the Education Director at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. 

Katy says her supervisor at the NC Maritime Museum encouraged her to pursue her environmental education certification. “When I started at the NC Maritime Museum at Southport, my supervisor was passionate about folding maritime culture and environment together as they help tell each other’s stories. That passion has rubbed off on me.”

The certification program helped Katy grow her comfort in nature. “Starting out I didn't wonder about the natural world around me - it was not something I grew up with, so getting to learn about it in my adult life has been wonderful.”

For her community partnership project, Katy worked with four organizations: Potters Seafood, NCDEQ’s Marine Patrol, Cape Fear River Watch, and the City of Southport to create a wayside educational sign on the Southport City Pier to help educate residents and visitors about maritime culture and the maritime environment. The sign includes a map highlighting the Cape Fear River, Intracoastal waterway and Atlantic Ocean in addition to information on how to measure a fish. A QR Code links to more information.  

Katy says the program also changed her approach to teaching. “I deliberately look at the natural world when discussing maritime topics. Plus, I have found I have more compassion and I'm more cognizant of the world around me than I ever have been before.”