Educator Spotlight: Tiffany Huffman

Tiffany Huffman, Park Superintendent at Bakers Mountain Park in Catawba County, has completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Tiffany says she wears a lot of hats in her role. “Our staff does everything that is required to keep our parks running: maintenance, cleaning restrooms, trail work, giving directions, and more. My favorite part of the job is doing educational programming to teach others about the environment around them. The most interesting fun fact about me and my work is that I am one of four licensed hummingbird banders in the state. I enjoy all things outdoors- hiking, kayaking, walking, etc. as well as reading.”

When asked about her favorite part of earning her certification, Tiffany says she enjoyed the entire program. “My favorite part was going to workshops and learning from other educators and being able to bring back activities and ideas for my own work.”

Tiffany says the part that stands out to her is the NC Forest Service’s  week-long “Investigating Your Environment” workshop. “I often said, ‘It’s like summer camp but for adults’ because the workshop was such a fun week. The workshop gave me a ton of resources and ideas for activities that I can do with students and adults to enhance programming.”

For her community partnership project, Tiffany transformed an existing trail into a “Nature Exploration Trail.” She installed signs that can be changed out seasonally to convey an environmental message to elementary-aged students and their families. “These signs all center around a central theme and have an activity at each station to engage students. This project will provide an incentive for families and individuals to explore the trail more and learn more about their environment. It also provides a resource for teachers at the elementary school next door to use to get students outdoors without the cost of a field trip.”

When asked if the certification program led to any changes in her approach to teaching, she says it demonstrated the importance of engaging participants when teaching and the techniques for effectively capturing your audience’s attention. “ I could see the difference in how engaged participants were when I started using hands-on activities. I also learned a lot from other educators on how to do this effectively so that students were engaged, focused on the task and not distracting others. This program has taught me the importance of giving all the facts to students and participants and letting them come to their own conclusions rather than just telling them what to think.”