Staff Spotlight: Appreciation for Miho Aida

Miho arrived at NatureBridge while still on a student visa, a very different situation from the other NatureBridge educators who already had their U.S. citizenship or permanent residency. An immigration attorney who accompanied her son on a NatureBridge program as a chaperone, Phyllis Jewell, offered to assist Miho with pro bono work to secure their green card. “That was a really long, multi-year process,” Miho recalls. The legal proceedings began around 2001—and Miho received their green card in 2012.

Yet the process offered Miho a chance to examine and alter their perspective: “Something clicked in me that regardless of how I feel about this process, it is what it is… If I think I’m trapped in this process, then I will be trapped. If I think it is an opportunity then it will be an opportunity.”

“I think having that mindset has helped me approach challenges,” Miho says, adding that it’s something they try to communicate to their students: “It’s challenging and it’s a struggle, and we always have something we can learn.”

With this mindset, Miho set out to explore other opportunities that were available to them—and they wound up applying for and receiving from NatureBridge both the Baxter Award and the Bishop/Marcus Award. Miho received the Baxter Award in 2008 and used the opportunity to travel and listen to stories from women of color in the outdoors around the world. “That was a significant, life-changing experience for me,” Miho reflects. “I really affirmed what my role was (as someone who identifies as a woman of color) and my effort to bring dynamic women of color’s stories to light—how we are making a difference.” Receiving the Bishop/Marcus Award in 2010 offered Miho additional opportunities to continue this listening journey—specifically highlighting the experiences of Native American women who are actively involved in the environmental movement. Miho’s experiences in 2010 even led them to create—in collaboration with the Gwich’in people of Alaska—an award-winning film based on the women’s stories and struggles.

Quoting the author and poet Maya Angelou, Miho sums up the shift in perspective that they discovered among their challenges and opportunities: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” This idea “encapsulates a different way to exist in the world,” Miho remarks. It’s a way of existing that Miho continues to pursue.

Now that they have completed hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), Miho’s next planned adventure is to hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). The CDT is 3,100 miles and wends through the Rocky Mountains from New Mexico to Canada. It is one of three major national scenic trails (the PCT and the Appalachian Trail are the other two). 

“I’m excited to hike the CDT because it’s more remote than the PCT and it requires more preparation, experience and flexibility than hiking on the PCT,” Miho says. “The Rockies are more unpredictable—afternoon thunderstorms, higher elevations, snow travels with sun exposure.”

Miho identifies several mentors and influential people from NatureBridge who encouraged and challenged them on their journey. First among these individuals were Cleve Justis (who was the Education Director when Miho started working at NatureBridge Golden Gate and who eventually became the Golden Gate Campus Director) and Duffy Ross (Miho’s “mentor teacher” who eventually became Golden Gate’s Education Director). Duffy was also the person who spearheaded NatureBridge’s diversity work, along with the Human Resources Director at the time. “She was the first leader at NatureBridge who met me where I was and affirmed me to be who I am,” Miho states, speaking of Duffy. “I was inspired by her care, radical thinking, and approach to equity and inclusion work.”