Alumni Community
Your NatureBridge experience doesn’t end after your program—it’s just the start of a lifelong connection! Through our Alumni community, you can stay linked to the inspiring community of NatureBridge graduates, educators, staff, and families who share your passion for the environment. Reconnect with nature and each other through alumni events, outdoor adventures, and ongoing learning opportunities. Plus, explore ways to network with fellow alumni in your area and beyond. Together, we can continue to build a community dedicated to stewardship and a love for the natural world.
Alumni Quotes
For me, NatureBridge was a life changing experience. I will always look back at the wonderful memories that NatureBridge has given me.
Reflecting on my time at NatureBridge, I realize it has become a repository of core memories. These are the moments that define my journey, serving as beacons of joy and inspiration. I cherish each memory created during my stays and eagerly anticipate the prospect of returning in the years to come. NatureBridge has woven itself into the fabric of my life, and I eagerly await the next chapter of adventure and discovery it holds.
Because of NatureBridge, I was able to see people like myself outdoors… Being in Yosemite solidified my decision for my future career path… I wish to inspire, teach, and instill the love and care I have for the great outdoors on to future generations.
Although it was only one week out of the hundreds of weeks I have lived, the ripple it created grew into a wave that I will never forget. Thank you so much, Nature Bridge, for this memory. I will remember it forever.
For once, I got to experience what being a scientist is like, and it was something I could see myself doing in the future. This was definitely one of the major highlights of my trip, and something I will remember for a long time.
NatureBridge has given me [the opporuntity] to make a positive impact on others lives and the environment and how I can help make a difference in preserving our natural world.
Thank you Nature Bridge for the wonderful experience and lessons you provided me in such a short span of time!
Through NatureBridge, students like me are guided through our overwhelming, interconnected environment, facing the harsh realities of our changing world while being motivated towards positive climate action.
Alumni Stories
Blog Posts
Student to Steward: Marisa Granados’s Unstoppable Trajectory
We last spoke with 2018 NatureBridge Student of the Year Marisa Granados six months prior to the onset of COVID-19 in the U.S. At the time, a day in the life of Marisa sounded as wildly busy as it did impressive: she was the resident assistant of a dorm, honors student, weekend snowboarder, NOLS Wilderness First Responder, blog writer, an involved fellow with Our Climate Voices and she even logged hours in pursuit of her private pilot license.
In the subsequent years, Marisa has drawn closer to obtaining her degree in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, and has faced the same challenges that many students have due to the pandemic — isolation, a virtual learning environment, increased academic pressure.
Her experience and insights about self-care and trying to conduct science fieldwork in a virtual setting only serve to highlight why she won Student of the Year in the first place.
The Skins and Skulls Lab Mural is Complete!
Ingrid Apter was a beloved NatureBridge educator who dedicated over 20 years of her life to sharing her love of the outdoors with the kids in our programs. She was an integral part of NatureBridge and her passing in 2021 was a deep loss for our team. Before her passing, Ingrid began to design a mural for our Skins and Skulls lab at Golden Gate. Her vision was to transform the lab so that it reflected the scenery just outside its walls. Ingrid began sketching the mural on canvas in her home during shelter in place and engaged a professional muralist to complete the project when she was unable to. The mural was dedicated in her memory and honors her indelible belief in the power of outdoor education.
Hans Cole and the Nonprofit for Profit
Hans Cole is Patagonia’s Head of Environmental Activism, Grants, and Campaigns, leading its strategic environmental partnerships and helping to achieve the for-profit corporation’s most important goal: to save our home planet. It was the three years he spent working as an educator with NatureBridge, honing his teaching skills and expanding his horizons, that opened his eyes to the possibility of having a life devoted to working on environmental issues.