Prince William Forest

This past Spring our Prince William Forest campus reopened after a two-year hiatus. In addition to the joy of having students back, we had the honor of welcoming Jason Brown, a teacher who holds the title of having attended more NatureBridge programs in Prince William than any other teacher in our 50-year history. We checked in with Jason to learn about his experience with NatureBridge over the years, the way nature has impacted his own life, and what keeps him and his students coming back year after year.

Welcome to the second park featured in our Sense of Place series: Prince William Forest Park. In 2012, NatureBridge opened its first east coast campus at Prince William Forest Park, the largest green space in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Located just 35 miles from the city, this 16,000 acres of woodlands are where nature and history unite. Here, students explore a Piedmont forest ecosystem while challenging themselves physically, building meaningful relationships and discovering a caring relationship with the natural world.

Since March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has shut down the increasingly popular programs in Prince William Forest, where programs like NatureBridge are a rarity. The campus pivoted to distance learning and “school yard” programs with excellent results. Still, teachers and students have been clamoring for in-person programs to return as soon as it is safe to do so.

On the eve of April 16, 2012, Vanessa Morel busied herself with last-minute preparations in Prince William Forest Park; in less than 24 hours, the first group of school children would be visiting for NatureBridge’s inaugural program in Prince William.

“I was like a mother hen that just couldn't settle,” says Vanessa, the Founder and Principal of NextGen Conservation who was NatureBridge’s first Washington D.C. Director at the time. “It was time for me to go home and leave it in the hands of the overnight staff, but I almost couldn't leave because I just felt this awesome responsibility. Would it all work out?”

With the rise of anxiety and depression about young people today, social emotional learning (SEL) is also on the rise. SEL a holistic educational framework that focuses on building mental, emotional and interpersonal skills that lead to positive outcomes for students and the community as a whole. We spoke with National Director of Education Meg Jakubowski to learn more about NatureBridge’s unique role in furthering SEL.

Thanks to Jon, Destry and other impactful leaders and passionate teachers, NatureBridge has served 8,964 kids since 2012 in Prince William Forest Park. After nearly 80 years, the park is living up to the promise of experiential education that was made in the 1930s. On the very same grounds where segregated housing was built, NatureBridge centers equity in its student programs. Not only is the promise being realized, but it is being expanded and made better for the next 50 years and beyond.

When Isabel Esparza was nine years old, she said goodbye to her family, greeted a crew of friendly flight attendants and flew half-way across the country to Michigan — alone. It was one of many trips for the former NatureBridge educator that was driven by her mother’s adventurous spirit. Isabel shares how that infectious spirit influenced her career path and the way she dreams of raising her own children. She also reflects on how an equity thought experiment she would propose — “Imagine a scientist” — helped students at our Mid-Atlantic campus see themselves represented in environmental education.

A member of our Mid-Atlantic Regional Board, Catherine Scott has spent her lifetime protecting natural places. This goes hand in hand with her belief that connecting youth to their local natural places is vital for environmental stewardship. Read more about his commitment to NatureBridge students.

After completing the Educator Development Program in Yosemite National Park this summer, Dana Delos Santos moved back east to be an educator at our Prince William Forest campus where she enjoys connecting city youth to the outdoors for the first time.