Stories from the Field

It had been over three years since we were able to gather for our annual fundraising event Evening on the Lake. After a heartbreaking last-minute cancellation in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown, we were determined to bring Evening on the Lake back stronger than ever—and we did!

NatureBridge was featured in an Op-Ed that was picked up by The Hill about the importance and impact of exposure to nature on mental health for young people. In the article, NatureBridge CEO Phil Kilbridge and associate professor in the Doerr School of Sustainability and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University Nicole Ardoin lay out the case for using outdoor education as a solution to things such as increased screen use, creating a relationship and sense of meaning with nature, effective social and emotional learning, and so much more.

We are so excited to welcome students back to NatureBridge campuses for the 2022-23 school year! Over the past few weeks, educators at every campus have been hard at work with training, orientations, preparation work and so much more.

Miho Aida, a long-time educator at our Golden Gate campus, was recently named NatureBridge's new Director of Equity, Inclusion & Diversity. We sat down with Miho to talk about equity, inclusion and diversity work at NatureBridge and learned how Miho's past is indelibly connected to EI&D work.

The 2022 Armstrong Scholars embarked on an excursion filled with unexpected challenges including illness, wildfires, rain and more but remained resilient.

Welcome, Cindy Orlando, Principal Deputy Regional Director of National Park Service Interior Regions 8, 9, 10 and 12 and NatureBridge's National Park Service Liaison!

Coastal Camp, our summer day camp in the Marin Headlands, was back in full swing this summer, welcoming 1,300 participants—more than ever before! Highlights included seeing our old friends from Wildcare and the Marine Science Institute, increasing access to more Marin kids and launching our new teen programs.

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.

If you were to ask any NatureBridge employee what some of their favorite things about working with our organization are, you’d undoubtedly hear about the kids, the programs, and the impact we make daily. But without fail, the most common response to that question is “the people.” Anyone who’s spent even an afternoon with a group of NatureBridge employees leaves with a brand new group of friends and a ton of laughs and stories. This all rings true for our Director of Development Operations, Jen Laughtion. Visit our blog to learn about Jen’s nearly six years with NatureBridge and the lasting relationships she’s built along the way.