People

I am a preschool teacher at a half-outdoor, half indoor preschool in Washington state called Nature Vision Preschool. I've worked at NV preschool for 2 years and will continue on my third year starting in August. Before working at Nature Vision, I was an English teacher at a preschool in South Korea for 3 years. I graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese Language and Culture and a minor focus on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. 

Megan Fink serves as the Partnerships & Policy Manager for the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). Working in the field of Environmental Education for over a decade, Megan brings a robust, place-based, outdoor education background to the NAAEE team. She has built enduring working relationships across the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the Mid-Atlantic region. As a graduate of Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Science and Biology, Megan began her career as an Environmental Educator at the North Carolina Aquariums before joining the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) in 2011. Through several program management positions with CBF she led students, teachers, school administrators, and environmental professionals on ecological, cultural, and historical investigations of the Bay. She also managed a statewide leadership program for high school students, teaching them how to become environmental advocates at the local, regional, and national levels.

Megan earned an Executive Master of Natural Resources from Virginia Tech’s Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability in 2020. In 2022-23, she served as Education Director for the Annapolis Maritime Museum & Park, supervising 15 Environmental Education Programs and expanding their reach to 14,000 participants annually. She also initiated and managed a project to launch a brand-new, nature-based preschool and served on the Maryland State Department of Education’s Workgroup to develop statewide Outdoor Preschool licensing standards. 

Throughout her career, Megan has designed programs that inspire participants to act on behalf of their local natural resources and enhance people’s understanding of and connection to the natural world through compelling environmental education experiences. In her spare time, she can often be found hiking, gardening, paddling, and spending time with her loved ones, including her dog, Ruby, splashing around the Bay watershed!

I am a 4th grade teacher in Berkeley County, WV and I have students that work with the Watershed group here. 

Blue Ridge Therapeutic Wilderness instructors are professionals who develop a wide variety of skills: outdoor living, motivational interviewing, risk management, group facilitation, and mindfulness– to name a few. We emphasize a relational approach that provides students with the support, awareness, and skills needed to achieve their goals. Simply put: Field Instructors are role-models for a healthier way of life.

https://blueridgewilderness.com/careers/field-instructors-2

Environmental Education has always been a passion of my life. I am trying to be environmentally responsible myself and want to teach others. I take my students on field trips into the woods for science lessons. I use my school backyard as part of my classroom. You will often see my students outside with their science journals making observations and hypotheses, conducting research, making discoveries and exploring the world around them. Together we tend to our small garden and this year we incubated some chicks.

I am trying to bring outdoors to my classroom as well. We have a special place in class where we collect things found in nature. Students often use a magnifying glass to explore objects in every detail. It peaks their curiosity, makes them ask questions and together we look for answers.

I like to challenge my students by presenting real life problems. I want to see what they would do to cure world hunger, to fight droughts, to find new sources of energy. We just recently had a debate on AI and the kids discovered many environmental issues that it causes they were not aware of. They surprised themselves!

I would like to continue my environmental education to become a better teacher and human being.

My name is Jennifer Queen.  I have been a teacher for 18.5 years.  I have taught kindergarten, first, third and fifth grades.  I find that there is something special about the students in each of the grades I've taught that makes learning with them fun.  

In my free time I enjoy spending time outdoors engaging in activities with my family, but I also appreciate being in the outside space going for walks by myself.  My family owns one dog, one guinea pig and one leopard gecko. 

ECO is a nonprofit organization focused on expanding access to nature-based early education.  We are located in Boston and provide nature preschool, forest days for public schools, and consulting services to educators interested in launching nature-based early ed programs in the USA or abroad.  I'd love to connect! 

I'm a Restoration Project Manager with Point Blue Conservation Science's STRAW program (Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed).

Bess Fergusson is an experienced Cedarsong Way® Forest School Teacher and post-graduate student in Early Childhood Education from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She is a fluent Spanish speaker, enjoys traveling and exploring nature with her two children, her husband and dog.

Bess’ teaching style emphasizes curiosity, belonging and social-emotional development through both unstructured and guided play where children develop a sense of respect and care for their environment, their peers and themselves.