Courses and Responsibilities

University of Oregon's Environmental Leadership Program is a two-term sequence of 400 level classes (ENVS 425 & 429) that teach students how to execute environmental education before demonstrating this knowledge out in the field. The Environmental Leadership Program's Wild Wanderers team focuses on bringing environmental education to first and second grade learners while uplifting communities and fostering a deep connection to place. Wild Wanderers 2025 worked with its community partners 90by30 and Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, as well as Adams, Chavez, and Oakridge elementary schools in Lane county, Oregon. Through the facilitation of weekly in-class lessons, 8 field trips to Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, and 2 parent/community cafes with 90by30, the team reached 285 students and their families in just ten weeks. We taught students about seasonal changes, key species, and biodiversity. The parent and community cafes served as a means to teach families of these students about why outdoor education is so beneficial to children's development and learning. Our goal is to inspire students to build environmental stewardship, laying a foundation for their own paths from awareness to environmental action.

My Role in this program was to work with the first grade team to collectively edit preestablished lessons from the previous year's team, informed by the Learning in Places teaching frameworks which were central to our editing approach. I was also responsible for facilitating classroom lessons, leading field trips at Mt. Pisgah, and hosting parent and community cafes alongside the Wild Wanderer's team. Specific roles that I spearheaded throughout this program were editing and formatting of our curriculum and materials, as well as creating and hand-drawing logo designs for our team website and stickers.