People

Bora Simmons serves as the founding director of the National Project for Excellence in Environmental Education. The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) initiated the Project in 1993 to help educators develop and deliver effective environmental education programs. The Project has drawn on the insights of literally thousands of educators across the United States and around the world to craft guidelines for top-quality environmental education.

Charissa V. Jones (she/her/hers) is the Outreach and Access Manager for the Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service Outdoor School Program and a scholar-practitioner working at the intersections of Black Studies, outdoor and environmental education, Extension and Engagement, and community-engaged scholarship. With more than 20 years of experience across formal, informal, and environmental education, her work explores how race, gender, power, place, and joy shape experiences of nature, recreation, and public space. Her research centers Black Joy, belonging, and community as pathways toward more equitable and liberatory futures.

I am a wellness professional and retreat designer working to build spaces where natural remedies, therapeutic practices, and environmental connection come together. My focus is on helping people restore a sense of alignment and wholeness by reintegrating nature into their healing journeys. I'm drawn to environmental education as a way to deepen this work—grounding therapeutic practice in ecological literacy and a genuine relationship with the land.

Mountain Watershed Association began its life around a kitchen table. The organization was founded in 1994 to oppose an underground coal mine proposal in the Indian Creek Watershed in the Laurel Highlands of Southwestern Pennsylvania. MWA’s input and organized opposition resulted in the denial of the permit. MWA’s board of directors and dedicated community members realized that to restore the watershed to a viable community, they would have to address the legacy of more than 150 years of extraction and disinvestment in our rural Appalachian region. Since then, MWA has restored more than 70 percent of the Indian Creek Watershed and prevented countless sources of additional pollution in the broader Youghiogheny River Watershed. The organization has expanded to eleven full-time employees, a 17-person volunteer Board of Directors, and more than 2500 members and supporters.

Ariel joined the NAAEE team in September of 2021 as a Senior Administrative Assistant. Prior to this role, she has over 15 years of administrative experience in a laboratory and office setting. She is originally from the suburbs of Illinois and moved to Washington DC in 2009, where she attended Howard University. She received her B.A. in Psychology at the College of Arts and Sciences with a minor focus in Administration of Justice. She aspires to travel the world to learn and experience cultures outside her own. Should Italy be next?

• I am currently developing and starting a small home outdoor program, on five acres in the Sierra foothills, primarily for students and their families who will benefit from outdoor learning experiences that provide sensitivity to sensory and/or learning needs, while providing challenging and fun activities. With a background as a special education teacher informing me, I will include activities that meet a variety of cognitive, cultural, and physical differences, focusing on experiential environmental learning experiences that provide layers of depth to the exploration.