People

I am a graduate student at Western Kentucky University enrolled in Introduction to Environmental Education.

Mrs. Crystal Olson is a dedicated 5th grade teacher at Commodore Perry School District with a Master's in Middle/Secondary Education with a science focus from Edinboro University. Her bachelors degree is in Animal Science from The Pennsylvania State Univisity. She is passionate about creating engaging, hands-on learning experiences that foster critical thinking and a love for lifelong learning. Mrs. Olson enjoys integrating technology into her lessons and building a positive, supportive classroom community. When she is not in the classroom, Mrs. Olson can be found cheering her children on in there numerous endeavors, walking her dog Stormy, or curled up reading a good book.

Tania Marien is the publisher of Transferable Solutions, a newsletter that reimagines environmental skills, helping environmental educators consider how to apply them to cross-sector work. She is the producer of the TALATERRA podcast, where she hosts conversations with independent environmental education and sustainability professionals, researchers, and authors. Past roles include serving as the publisher of ArtPlantae, a resource connecting artists, naturalists, and educators. Tania is a contributor to The Carbon Almanac (Penguin Random House, 2022) and Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions (Springer Nature, 2024).

Sydney spent the bulk of her childhood learning and growing under the canopy of the southeastern deciduous forests that make up her home state of Virginia. She earned her B.A. in International Studies with a minor in Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. Following her undergraduate schooling, she began working as a youth environmental educator, leading her to eventually pursue her M.A. in the University of Utah's Environmental Humanities Program to study how nature-based programs can better support nature-connections across diverse groups. While in Utah, she also co-founded Camping in Color, an overnight program designed for black youth and their families in the Salt Lake Valley area to enhance a sense of belonging, appreciation, and engagement in the outdoors. She joins the Natural Start Alliance team excited to further her work in making quality early childhood environmental education more accessible to all.

I have a long history of teaching and also in caring for animals as a zookeeper. I have long wanted education at zoos be focused on the animals here in our own backyard so we can understand our local flora and fauna and interact with it as good stewards on this planet.  I have recently started as a wildlife rehabilitator and am working with a local charter school to get a native environment section put into the school. 

7th Grade Science Teacher at Mohawk Junior High School

I'm Emily Carr. I'm a Senior at Western Carolina University. My major is Elementary Education. Over the past year or so, I have found myself drawn to learning about the environment and desiring to pass that knowledge along to others. I have worked with elementary-aged kids since I was 16 years old, serving as a daytime summer camp teacher every summer for the past five years. I have loved kids since I was a kid and first said I wanted to be a teacher in 1st grade. Little did I know that I would wind up loving the outdoors and desiring to spend every day outside. This has led me to explore the environment around me, whether in a city or a national forest. I love learning about nature and how each individual organism adds to the overall well-being of the environment. Because of my love of being outside, working with kids, and learning about nature, I have started to explore the option of becoming an environmental educator. Outside of loving nature and kids, I am very active in local churches and love to help other people. I have been involved with a campus ministry called Campus Outreach during my time at Western and have discovered a deep-rooted love of getting to know people on a personal level and helping them discover what they truly believe. My favorite way to get to know someone is by going on a hike with them. This combines two of my interests, getting to know people and being outdoors.