Envision a Better Future with Mary

This past year I've had some big changes in my career! In June, I went from teaching environmental education to students on field trips to working with ADULTS. I started working for a program called Schools in Parks where I get to collaborate with park rangers and teachers across NC to teach teachers how to teach environmental education (say that five times fast!) This may not sound like a big change, after all, I'm still teaching... about the environment. But it's like the saying, "give a man a fish he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". I get the opportunity to, not just teach a group of students for one hour on a field trip, but to teach their teachers to incorporate environmental education into their everyday lessons for years to come.

Environmental Educators of North Carolina has been such an important resource for me throughout my career and in getting me to where I am today. I started out soaking up all of the amazing workshops and going to the annual conference which gave me the resources, inspiration, and ideas for being the best environmental educator I can be. As I've grown in my career, I now teach some of those workshops and help at the conference! I'm so passionate about the organization that I've volunteered on the board the last two years as the Piedmont Section Chair, putting on events to bring together environmental educators in my region.

This work is so important because children and adults need to know how ecological systems work and why they matter. The health of the environment is inseparable from humans’ well-being and economic prosperity. People require knowledge, tools, and awareness to successfully address and solve environmental problems in their daily lives. And more than ever, we are all becoming increasingly aware of the systemic inequities that impact almost every aspect of our society.

It provides time in - and a connection to - the outdoors which research has shown to improve physical, mental, and emotional health. Learners not only gain environmental content knowledge but also support to become civically engaged leaders. That makes environmental education just as important for our participants as it is for the planet. 

Read more about EENC’s vision for the future and how we want to work toward that future here.

Will you help me? 

If you have a past experience that helped shape your love for and commitment to protecting our planet, please pay it forward by supporting EENC’s mission and work. Any amount you can give brings us closer to our goal.

Prefer to support EENC via check? You can mail a check to: EENC, PO Box 4904, Chapel Hill, NC 27515. Please let me know at mem297829@gmail.com if you’d prefer this option so I can make sure your support is counted now toward our goal.