People

Educator | Author | Publisher | Entrepreneur | Non-profit Leader | Systems Thinker 

Victoria is passionate about transformational change in schools. Serving as the environmental education and service-learning consultant at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Victoria works with educators and organizations to increase capacity for equitable, authentic learning experiences through meaningful place-based education. She co-founded FIELD Edventures, a non-profit dedicated to taking learning outdoors and designed and led a project-based, environmental middle school.

I have a degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Sociology. Additionally I have work experience in environmental social media marketing as well as intership experience in marine biology. 

Multidisciplinary Artist

Dual HBCU Graduate

Thalassophile & Anthophile

NAAEE’s Senior Director of Capacity Building, Sarah Bodor comes from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, where she held a number of program management and leadership positions throughout the organization. She worked closely with state education agencies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to develop and pilot standards-based curricula and provide teacher professional development. Her background also includes communications and fundraising. In 2008, she served as the writer of Maryland’s Children in Nature Plan, which resulted in passage of Maryland’s environmental high school graduation requirement.

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 am a mother of 2. I have been a teacher for 25 years. I am a crafter.

I am a 5th grade teacher at North East Elementary School

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. 

Ms. Sudakshina Sengupta is a Programme Officer–Scientist at the Vikram A. Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC), Ahmedabad. She holds an M.Sc. in Zoology with a specialization in Environmental Biology and has over 14 years of experience in science communication, science education, and environmental education. She coordinates several flagship programmes of VASCSC for school students. As an environment educator, she works to build awareness of basic environmental concepts at the school level through hands-on and inquiry-based learning. She has contributed to different DST–NCSTC projects, the Science Express (2012–17), teacher training programmes, and has been actively involved in the development of NEP 2020–aligned TLMs and IEC materials.

Megha Parikh is an educator dedicated to bridging the gap between complex environmental science and community-based STEM education. With a post-graduate degree in Environmental Sciences and over 14 years of specialized experience, she plays a pivotal role at the prestigious Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC) in leveraging her background in Environmental Sciences to develop innovative teaching-learning materials (TLM) that foster ecological literacy among youth. She also manages and coordinates large-scale projects centered on STEM education, innovation, and Artificial Intelligence, ensuring that emerging technologies are accessible to the next generation of thinkers.

My name is Aqsa. I love all animals, but especially dogs. I have a heart in educating on safe animal practices 

I am 2nd grade teacher at Northview Elementary School in Prince Georges County Public School. I have been teaching for 29 years. I love my job as a teacher because of my genuine love for teaching and learning as well as being with children who share equal love for learning and discovery of things around them.