Educator Spotlight: Yolanda Mitchell

Yolanda Mitchell, a parent and educator in Guilford County, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Yolanda has had many roles in education both in the traditional and non-traditional classroom in her 20-year career. These roles include serving as a case manager, an after-school instructor, a teacher and as the director and math teacher for a GED program. She has also served as a NC 4-H Volunteer Leader, a NC 4-H Master ACE (Achievement in Continuing Education) Volunteer, a Sunday school teacher, youth department leader, community volunteer, and in juvenile and criminal justice.

Yolanda says this was the right time in her career to complete her NC Environmental Education Certification. When asked about her favorite part of the program, she says it was a workshop provided by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. “I enjoyed every session I took. My favorite was NC CATCH (Caring for Aquatics Through Conservation Habits) because I learned how to fish and bait a hook. Even though we were catching and releasing the fish, I felt like I could do anything!”

Yolanda says the positive impact of the program on you as an educator really impressed her. “The way environmental education is taught is so freeing for teachers in the classroom. Staying in the student-led space, encouraging exploration, and just simply enjoying nature was a reboot for me and my growth. If we provide our children with the opportunity and give them an experience, it will last them a lifetime and not just for a moment!”

For her community partnership project, Yolanda worked with the Frank Sharpe Jr. Wildlife Education Center at Bur-Mil Park in Greensboro. She created spaces throughout the center that were toddler-focused and immersed them in their world of learning about nature and animals. “I gave suggestions to improve current spaces to update them and open opportunities for youth to explore. I cleaned and organized spaces to maximize guests' experiences. I know firsthand from guests how my changes have had a positive effect on the community. Some set a comeback date, others planned visits with their grandchildren—the kids wanted to explore every area before leaving—and my favorite was a child that loved the upstairs toy/book area. The child's mother said they come to sit, read, and play every chance they get.”

Yolanda says the program has positively and greatly impacted her approach to teaching. “I was a super strict and structured person before joining. Slowly with each session, I began to value the unstructured approach to teaching which is difficult. I became in touch with my senses, learned to enjoy nature, saw the challenges in activities that would prevent a toddler, or a person with glasses, or person with walking difficulty from enjoying nature.” Yolanda says she wants to make sure environmental education activities are available to all students. “I have had to see kids that didn't know what a forest was, youth scared to engage with nature or never had the opportunity. I hope I can make impact in small ways as I reintroduce myself in the EE world!”

Yolanda also says the program changed the way she viewed environmental issues. “My thoughts about zero waste, water conservation, composting, pollinator gardens, ecosystems, and growing your own garden has been changed. I am more knowledgeable about personal or individual impacts on the environment and how it is better to lead with knowledge, details, and resources for personal growth and research.”

Educator Spotlight: Bella Insignares

Bella is a nature instructor at Walnut Creek Wetland Center in Raleigh and recently began working in the Discovery Room at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Bella credits the environmental education certification program with helping her find positions in the field.

Bella has a strong background in southeastern flora and fauna that she incorporates into the programs she develops and teaches. “I am particularly passionate about connecting environmental education to art and increasing the access to environmental education by developing programs that are accessible and inclusive.”

Bella says her favorite part of her certification journey was the instructional workshops. “It was a really enjoyable experience to spend lots of time with other educators, learning foundational activities and techniques specific to the field of environmental education. I think it made me feel most connected to the field and gave me lots of ideas for teaching.”

When asked about an experience that stood out to her, Bella says that it was the Storytelling in Environmental Education Workshop that was facilitated by Raleigh Parks and Recreation. “It was so informative and fun. It also gave me context because I recognized elements from the workshop that had been used by my peers in their own programs, which helped me see the workshop as a shared experience between myself and my peers. I thought it was very meaningful that I was a part of that cycle of learning.”

For her community partnership project, Bella contributed to the Beginning Birding program developed by Field Inclusive, Wake Audubon, City of Raleigh and the NC Bird Atlas. “I conducted breeding bird surveys for Bird Atlas and developed a presentation to share with program participants about how they could contribute to citizen science as burgeoning birders. I also led bird walks as part of the Beginning and Advanced Birding programs, both of which continue to this day. These programs are primarily aimed at increasing a sense of belonging in marginalized recreationists and exposing new birders to foundational birding knowledge, positive community support, and safety tips, while also increasing awareness of citizen science opportunities. I hope these programs have contributed to a safer, more supportive, more positive birding community.”

Bella says the program changed the way she approaches teaching. “I gained a much more principled, thoughtful, intentional approach to teaching while completing my certification. I started this certification as a college student after taking an interest in environmental education in high school. My first programs were developed from an emotional, intuitive perspective, and though well-intentioned, lacked any understanding of pacing, audience, or the role of the educator. Having learned the guidelines, gained more experience teaching and learning from peers I've met through EE workshops, I would say my teaching style has matured and blossomed beyond my imagination. I am far more confident, practiced, and principled after participating in the certification program.”

She says the program also changed the way she views environmental issues. “I see the role the educator plays in awareness about environmental issues differently after this certification program. I used to see environmental education as more directly relating to sharing issues and encouraging specific solutions, but now I see our role as encouraging affective investment in the environment that leads to people forming their own ideas and solutions about environmental issues.” 

Educator Spotlight: Juliann Chavez

Juliann Chavez, the sustainability coordinator for the City of Concord recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Juliann educates the public about stormwater pollution and prevention, waste management including recycling and composting, and about the importance of native plants and habitat management. 

Juliann says her favorite part of the program was meeting other educators. “The best part was meeting lots of other educators throughout the state that I am now collaborating with on various programs. That has been invaluable for me in my position.”

She says the part of the certification process that stands out for her were the instructional workshops. “I really learned a lot of new ways to engage the public and how to improve my programs.”

For her community partnership project, she created a new pollinator garden at one of the city’s parks. “I partnered with our parks and recreation department and our NC Wildlife Federation local chapter, the Concord Wildlife Alliance. We saw a need for a teaching pollinator garden within the City of Concord. In the city, we have a unique partnership with Concord Wildlife Alliance. I worked with this organization to promote and create this pollinator garden. I also worked with the local Cooperative Extension office to create the ideal list of native plants to attract pollinators. The garden is a great space for residents to come and see pollinators in action.”

When asked if the certification program led to changes in her approach to teaching, she says it helped her see the connection between her programming and increasing environmental literacy and awareness among her audiences. “It opened my eyes to new ways of developing curriculum and showed me that there is more that I can offer.” She also plans to make her programs more interactive while also teaching outdoors more often.

Leesville Road Middle School Celebrates a New School Mural and Pollinator Garden and Recognizes School Library Media Coordinator Evelyn Bussell.

Evelyn Bussell, the School Library Media Coordinator at Leesville Road Middle School in Raleigh, was recognized yesterday for completing her NC Environmental Education Certification during a Spring Showcase and ribbon cutting for the school’s new mural and pollinator garden. The showcase also included performances by students in the dance program. 

The showcase was an appropriate place to recognize Evelyn’s achievement – the school’s pollinator garden was her community partnership project for her certification. Evelyn says in addition to Leesville Middle; the garden will also benefit other schools. “I worked with our environmental club students and many different community members and organizations to create three pollinator gardens and one monarch waystation using NC native plants. As our school is located on the only three-school-campus in our school district so teachers, classes and students from the neighboring elementary and high schools, in addition to our own middle school, will have access to and be able to use the gardens to support their units on plants, habitats, pollinators and more. Any visitors to our gardens can contribute to citizen science using our QR codes to share their observations and our environmental club students will submit the collected data to The Great Sunflower Project. In addition to students from our school, local Boy Scouts and high school students earned community service hours assisting with the project.”

Lisa Tolley, program manager for the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs, and Kelly Hendrix, assistant park manager of Education for Blue Jay Point and Green Hills County Park with Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space presented Evelyn with her certificate. “Thank you for the opportunity to recognize Ms. Bussell for her dedication to environmental education, sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm with her students for getting students outdoors to learn across disciplines.” Principal Chris Cox thanked Evelyn for leading the school's environmental club and the PTSA for their support of the club's projects including the pollinator garden and other improvements at the school. 

In addition to her roles as media coordinator, Evelyn also serves as the school’s technical contact and sponsors the school’s environmental club. “Outside of my school-based role I enjoy serving as a mentor for new school librarians, facilitating the district's professional development for school library media coordinators working towards their initial or maintaining their National Boards Certification, and serving on the Wake NC Association of Educators Leadership and Organizing Committees.” In her personal time, she enjoys spending time with my kids and "framily," hiking, camping, kayaking, watercolor painting, taking nature photography, quilting, and of course, reading.

Evelyn notes that the best part of earning her certification was the instructional workshops. “All the workshops reignited my passion for teaching, becoming a better educator all-around and having fun with science, a subject that I struggled with during my own school years.”  When asked what experience in the program stood out to her, Evelyn says it was the Educator Treks offered through the NC Museum of Natural Sciences that allowed her to learn and connect with other educators while exploring some amazing places.

Evelyn completed her professional development at Blue Jay County Park and at other educational institutions throughout the state including Lake Johnson Park, the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher, Walnut Creek Wetland Center in addition to visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Pocosin Lakes and Alligator River National Wildlife Refuges through the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educator Trek program. You can read more about her professional development experiences on her website.

Evelyn says the program changed her approach to teaching. “Going through the EE Certification program allowed me to collaborate with science teachers in my school and become confident in taking students outside for learning experiences.”

The NC Environmental Education Certification is offered through the Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs to encourage professional development in environmental education and acknowledge educators committed to environmental stewardship. For more information, visit www.eenorthcarolina.org.

Educator Spotlight: Chris Dransoff

Chris Dransoff, a retired educator, recently completed his NC Environmental Education Certification. “I retired in 2018 and have done a lot of volunteering at various museums in both Chicago and Charlotte.  In addition to museum volunteering, I have devoted time to environmental education.  I have volunteered for the past several years at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden where I give time weekly to a phenology program and assist in monitoring 50 bluebird boxes. In December of 2024, I completed certification as a Central Carolinas Master Naturalist. I also enjoy playing golf and hiking.”

When asked about his favorite part of the program, Chris says he enjoyed learning about other parts of the state and the resources. "I enjoyed the resources I acquired through the various trainings in which I participated like Project Wild, Project Wet, Project Learning Tree and the Methods of Teaching Environmental Education training. These are fabulous resources and I hope to utilize them in the coming years to help engage others and increase enthusiasm and commitment to environmental issues, awareness and action."

When asked about a certification experience that stood out for him, Chris says it was the depth of the certification experience. “It is a rigorous program that requires a commitment to learning and sharing that knowledge.” He adds that his community partnership project came in a close second for a standout experience. 

For his community partnership project, Chris installed Bluebird boxes at a local elementary school. “For Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, birds are part of the first grade curriculum, so I was able to work directly with the teachers at the school and present to the first grade classes about the importance of caring about birds. The first grade produced a PSA that explained the importance of protecting birds, and the first-grade teachers helped monitor the bird boxes and report the observations through an app called Nature's Notebook. Those reports go to a national database at Arizona State University and are used by scientists to monitor patterns across the country. In fact today I am installing two additional boxes on the school site.  The school has been a great partner!  This is year three of the partnership and we've fledged 37 bluebirds to date.”

When asked if the program changed his approach to teaching, Chris says it further supported his own approach. “As a career educator, I know the importance of hands-on and learner-driven experiences.  With environmental education, this is essential. The environmental education certification process has driven this home even more for me.”

Chris says the program has also supported his views on the environment. “I have been environmentally driven since a young age as a scout and later generally as a camper, hiker and outdoor lover. The program has helped me deepen my understanding of ecological systems and the beauty and wonder of the natural world; and therefore, our duty to protect it by educating others about the delicate balance in nature.”

Educator Spotlight: Kerissa Armstead

Kerissa Armstead, a Recreation Coordinator with the City of Durham Parks and Recreation, has recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Kerissa credits the certification program with helping her find a job. In her position, Kerissa coordinates field trips to the park and public programs that are focused on environmental education and outdoor recreation skill building. “I am a former high school science teacher, so I love that I get to work with kids in the outdoors and share my love of nature and science! I spend a lot of time outdoors with friends and family and kind of become a default nature guide during activities in my personal time as well.”

When asked about her favorite part of the program, Kerissa says it was networking with other people who love nature. “I still keep up with some folks I got to know in the workshops. Also, I enjoyed that through the program, I was able to mix and match workshops that are tailored to my interests and skills that I want to work on.”

Kerissa says the certification experiences that stood out for her were the ones that focused on a particular type of animals such as NC State Park Interpretation and Education Specialist Brian Bockhahn’s spider workshop. “I had no idea about all the diversity around us. It gave me a lot more appreciation for the littlest creatures.”

For her community partnership project, Kerissa strengthened the Franklinton Community Garden by improving volunteer coordination, community awareness, and administrative organization. “I recruited student volunteers, streamlined scheduling, and managed social media and public outreach. Franklinton is a small rural town where access to fresh food and community engagement is vital. My project helped connect residents, provide education, and improve access to fresh produce.”

Kerissa says the certification program led to changes in her approach to teaching. She continues to use resources from several of the workshops including Growing Up Wild and Project WILD, programs of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission and Project Learning Tree, a program provided by NC State University - Extension Forestry and more. “I haven’t had to ‘reinvent the wheel’ for different activities for programs. It has also helped me come up with ideas to scale a program up or down in age if we don't have a version of something for a specific age group. For example, it's nice to be able to pull in a song or game from Growing Up Wild” for younger students.”

Kerissa says the program also changed the way she views environmental issues. “This program helped me know how to talk about environmental issues with the public. Since I studied environmental science in college, conversations with colleagues could become very technical, but this program helped me know how to make these issues understandable for people who aren’t working in an environmental field.”

Educator Spotlight: Sharon Bippus

Dr. Sharon Bippus, a retired college instructor who is pursuing a post-retirement career in environmental education, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification.

Sharon has worked as an educator for many years and has a background in English as a Second Language (ESL). She is currently teaching ESL at Forsyth Technical Community College. “I have worked with adults, but I have also taught high school and middle school. In addition, I taught intensive summer programs in China and Slovakia, and I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Russia for two years. After moving to North Carolina from Texas in August of 2023, I decided to add another dimension to my teaching toolbox, so I began working on the North Carolina Environmental Education certificate. In my free time, I enjoy spending time in nature, photography, and arts and crafts."

Sharon says her favorite part of the certification program was exploring different parts of the state and having more access to nature. “The first workshop I attended in person was Wild about Elk on Grandfather Mountain. Later I traveled to the coast and visited the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, and of course, I have visited many locations near my new home in the Piedmont. Melanie Buckingham, the librarian at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch Library in Greensboro, has been an amazing resource, and I have attended many of her workshops. Visiting so many different locations throughout the entire state has provided me with an incredible introduction to North Carolina.”

The certification experience that stood out to Sharon was a workshop offered through North Carolina State Parks. “My favorite workshop, which was taught by Regional Education Specialist Brian Bockhahn at the Carolina Beach State Park, was Nature Art because it combined two of my favorite things – creative expression and nature.”

For her community partnership project, Sharon was able to merge two of her interests -gardening and ESL. “I created a study guide for the young adult novel Seedfolks and facilitated a book group for the ESL students at the local YMCA. Seedfolks by Paul Fleischmann tells the story of a community garden that brings a diverse group of neighbors together as they turn a vacant city lot into a thriving garden. Our book group also brought together a diverse group. The participants represented Germany, Honduras, Iran, South Korean, Spain, and Venezuela, and we enjoyed learning about the themes in the book and each other’s cultures.”

Sharon says that the program changed the way she approached teaching. “Participating in the certification program has expanded my perception of the concept of a ‘classroom,’ and I have learned how to adapt the skills that I already have and apply them to different situations. As a classroom ESL teacher, I have always been a proponent of active learning and experiential learning, but the certification program showed me how to use nature as my classroom, and it has increased my awareness of new teaching tools.”

Participating in the Environmental Education Certification program benefited Sharon in some other unanticipated ways. “One of the pleasant surprises of participating in this program was meeting people from such a variety of professional backgrounds – K-12 teachers, professors, librarians, park rangers, city and county employees, and entrepreneurs, just to name a few – but the one thing we all have in common is our interest in the environment. It encourages me to know that so many people care and are advocating for the environment in a multitude of ways.”

Educator Spotlight: Lauren Best

Lauren Best, a recent graduate student in geology and environmental science from Appalachian State University has completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Lauren is pursing a job as a wetlands technician where she will collect soil and plant data on valuable wetlands within federally protected lands. In her personal time, Lauren enjoys ecology, organic farming, birding and running on her local greenway in Boone.

Lauren says her favorite part of certification were the site visits. “The certification took me to places in North Carolina that I wouldn't have otherwise visited, where I learned about the small but crucial roles that people fill to advocate for the importance of our North Carolina environment. During these visits, I met a wide range of educators, scientists, and environmental enthusiasts with a more experience than myself who encouraged me to continue down the path I am currently on.”

She says the certification experience that stands out for her were the workshops. “I liked going to workshops and taking deep dives on certain learning objectives and themes. The workshops were similar, but they all had something unique about them that I got to take away.

For her community partnership project, Lauren did background research and wrote a proposal for the reinstallation of a rose arbor with educational signage at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park located in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. “The purpose of the report was to provide potential heritage rose options that were once planted in a now overgrown rose garden. The project aims to better utilize the space, promote historical restoration of the park and further education of both the Manors history and the cultural significance of the flowers being grown.”

Lauren says the program led to changes in her approach to teaching. “I've changed my teaching style in a way that integrates student feedback, questions and personal stories. Rather than explaining a concept as 'fact,' I give students the open-ended opportunity to integrate lessons into their personal lives. I also learned there's so many more ways to learn than just sitting in a classroom and listening. Teaching is an interactive activity, and learning looks very different for everyone's personal needs.”

She says the program also changed the way she thinks about environmental issues. “After participating in the certification program, I have a much higher level of understand and appreciation for all the current environmental issues that we are faced with. The effect that humans have on our environment is far reaching, and I now have the awareness to notice where I fit into that picture and how to make others more conscientious in a way that can make everyone appreciate the mistakes we've made but also the gifts we've been given!”