Educator Spotlight: Jennifer Muttillo

Jennifer Muttillo, a first-grade teacher at Abbotts Creek Elementary School in Wake County has completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. When she is not teaching, Jennifer enjoys hiking and camping with her family and friends.

Jennifer says her favorite part of earning her certification was participating in the NC Museum of Natural Sciences Educator Treks. “I was able to surround myself with great people who are stewards of our Earth. I even got to know some of my coworkers better during the trips. The educators who led the treks were incredibly knowledgeable, friendly and organized. It was a great way to see and learn about the biodiversity of our great state.”

When asked about a certification experience that stood out to her, Jennifer says it was the Got Elk Educator Trek in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Learning about the reintroduction of these animals to our state and the efforts to increase their population makes me have hope for other protected wildlife like the red wolf. It's nice to know humans are trying to help these animals thrive in habitats that are diminishing due to human impacts.”

For her community partnership project, Jennifer collaborated with her school’s media specialist to design a curriculum, kid-friendly Ebooks, and Google slides to teach first graders about the needs of specific plants in NC. These books are available to all first-grade students across the state. First graders can independently use the tools to research plants native to different regions of our state using a kid-friendly resource specific to North Carolina.”

Jennifer said the program changed her approach to teaching. “I have gained a tremendous amount of new information and teaching strategies to help my students learn at a deeper level using outdoor education. By completing this certification, I have gained new knowledge about people, places, plants and animals. I have discovered new ways to look at nature, and new ways to organize my teaching using outdoor education. I have become more confident taking my students outside to learn.”

She also says her views and awareness of environmental issues changed because of the program. “Part of changing the way you think about environmental issues is finding out what issues even exist in our state. It has helped remind me to slow down. There are small bits of nature all around us, we just need to stop and appreciate it. I have tried to instill that in my students by taking "nature moments" at different times of the week. While taking EENC’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion training, I learned more about the environmental injustices people face daily. The biggest takeaway for me is that I need to expose my students and their families to our environment as much as possible because they are our future.”