Stories from the Field

For Kathryn, it is essential that the learning experiences her students have outside the classrooms work in tandem with what they are learning in the classroom.

As a child growing up in Northern California, Corinne Dedini would travel frequently with her family to their forest service cabin in Stanislaus National Forest. Along the way, young Corinne would see signs directing travelers to Yosemite National Park, and she remembers asking “Mom, what’s Yosemite?” And her mother would reply that it was “just like our little cabin” in Stanislaus.

One of the many joys we get to experience at NatureBridge is the frequent return of supporters and friends who have had a lasting impact on students as well as our staff. Such is the case with Maryhien Pham, an eighth grade teacher at Lawson Middle School in Northern California who has been bringing students to our Yosemite campus for 10 years.

Congratulations to Kim Hanson who recently accepted the permanent position of Mid-Atlantic Regional Director after serving as Interim Director for the Mid-Atlantic Region. Now in her third decade of working for NatureBridge (she began in 2002!), Kim brings a wealth of experience, wisdom and vision to the role.

In the fall of 2022, I brought a group of 54 eighth graders to NatureBridge for the first time since the Covid pandemic shut down the school district in March of 2020.

We are excited to introduce NatureBridge’s new CFO Leslie Smith! Leslie comes to us with a wide-spanning background in nonprofit and for-profit finance and business operations, as well as a passion for and love of outdoor learning and experiences.

At NatureBridge, our goal is to inspire every student to become an environmental steward—and there are as many different expressions of that commitment as there are NatureBridge alumni. For some students, their NatureBridge experience even inspires their career trajectory and crystallizes their sense of identity as champions of our wildlife and wild spaces. One such student alum is Julie Byerly.

When your first outdoor adventure is a week-long wilderness canoe camping trip with your parents at the tender age of 18 months, you might have a hunch that nature is going to play a big role in your future!

Referred to as “the last perfect place in California”, the Dangermond Preserve is one of the last remaining stretches of wild coast in California. The sprawling 24,000-acre preserve is located at Point Conception in Santa Barbara, CA and it is a living laboratory that facilitates scientific research and environmental education.