As part of the fifth anniversary of the launch of eePRO, NAAEE is featuring environmental education professionals who have used the platform to connect, collaborate, and learn. Subscribe to eeNEWS to follow along.

Our first story features Maureen Ferry, creator and founder of HouseStories, which seeks to engage youth with the built environment and provide tools to help them design a better future.
 

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As an architect, Maureen understands the impact that the built environment has on our planet. The resources humans consume to build cities and feed themselves are often not considered. She states, “We can no longer just think of architecture or urban planning as something that happens without the natural environment." Her work incorporates systems thinking ideas with a variety of disciplines like city planning, architecture, engineering, and product design. The goal of her organization HouseStories is to help youth learn about and design resilient and adaptive cities. Though Maureen is based in the United States, she has been able to expand her reach across the world, literally, through the eePRO network. She has been contacted about using HouseStories UrbanEngineers programs by two different non-governmental organizations working in Africa.

One is Think Green Zambia, founded by Petronella Biyela to spread

environmental-based education in Zambia. She adopted the HouseStories UrbanEngineers program and did pilots with hundreds of kids across Zambia. Biyela even managed to implement the program in a UNHCR refugee camp. Both Biyala and HouseStories received commendations from UNHCR and the Ministry of Education of Zambia. They are really looking forward to developing this relationship further and reaching as many students as possible.

On a second occasion, HouseStories collaborated with ISNAD-Africa, a dynamic organization founded by NAAEE 30 Under 30 2018 recipient Adedoyin Adeleke , which promotes sustainable energy, environment, and education across Africa. They asked Maureen to be part of one of their education programs which reached students and teachers in Cameroon and Uganda.

Maureen is grateful that the eePRO network has allowed her to expand her reach to other continents and diverse audiences. The breadth and range of creative and thoughtful solutions from youth all over the world provided much inspiration and valuable feedback to her work, including how to adapt methods without losing core values and ideas. You can check out her NAAEE eePRO Sustainable Cities and Communities webinar or reach out via the eePRO platform to collaborate. She looks forward to growing with eePRO!

 

We are looking for stories and successes in which eePRO played some part.

Did you find your current job through eePRO? Was there a webinar or an opportunity that slid you into the perfect place at the perfect time? Did you discover a resource that made a particular splash with your students? We would love to hear about it. Email your story to maxwell@naaee.org or enter it in question #6 of our eePRO survey below! If you would like the opportunity to be featured on eePRO, just like Maureen here, be sure to leave your contact information with your story, and we'll reach out to you.

 

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