The firefly, Photuris pensylvanica is the State Insect of Pennsylvania, and our goal as an
organization for the last 13 years has been to provide quality non-formal environmental
education to visitors, groups, and schools about the fireflies existence and significance to our
natural world. I also know that it's not possible for us to directly educate the entire state of
Pennsylvania, so I am looking to provide training for teachers and other environmental
educators to develop their own firefly program or thematic units in their own school,
classroom or environmental education center.
I am the Chair of the Educational Outreach and have been providing firefly education programs for 13 years. I became interested in fireflies when a special species (i.e. Synchronous Firefly, Photinus carolinus) was
discovered on my property in Forest County in 2012. Since then, I have done research and
self-study to develop presentations for visitors of all ages who come to the festival to see
the fireflies. As an organization, we produced visual displays, informational brochures,
handouts, firefly viewing etiquette, interactive demonstrations and encounter activities and
games for the programs. We not only present and provide guided firefly interpretive walks
for visitors during the firefly season, but we also make presentations for special interest
groups like Sierra Clubs, Birding Clubs, Scouts and most recently at the PAEE conference
in the Poconos. My team and I also provide full-day firefly themed STEAM programs in
schools.
The Firefly Educational Outreach programs are designed to raise awareness about the firefly
through engaging and interactive activities. We estimate that we have educated over 4000
individuals so far from all over Pennsylvania, over 20 states, and 12 countries from every
continent, except Antarctica. I have developed differentiated lessons that align with the Pennsylvania EE Standards, and  can be used with Pre-K to Senior audiences in rural and in urban areas. The urban audience may not typically venture to
the forest, but are often enticed to come see lightning bugs. The majority of our audiences for the
festival and firefly tours come from urban areas including Pittsburgh, NYC and Washington DC.

I am also a Level I Instructor in Leave No Trace and apply those principles to our outdoor education and eco-tours. The longterm goal is to raise awareness of the environment through firefly education in hopes our participants will become involved in conservation in their own home and community.