A Celebration of Community and Growth: TEEM 2019 Graduation
In early May, the friends and family of 18 Teen Environmental Education Mentorship (TEEM) mentees and six mentors filled the Sunset building at NatureBridge’s Golden Gate campus in the Marin Headlands. The group was celebrating the graduates of this year’s TEEM program, an environmental education leadership initiative for high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Paired with a NatureBridge educator for the course of nine months, program participants develop leadership skills, discover their ability to positively impact others and learn the importance of community, inclusivity and hands-on learning. They have the opportunity to intern as educators teaching our young students in the field, participate in overnight camping trips and learn about environmental internships and careers.
The truly transformative impact of the program shone through in each anecdote that was shared throughout the night.
After an introduction from TEEM Program Manager Karli Cowman that included a long list of superlatives about each individual, one by one, NatureBridge staff stood up to talk about the students they had spent the past school year mentoring.
Mentors gifted homemade candles representing personalities of their mentees, plants repotted from their own gardens, homemade hats and acronym poems. The line that I continued to hear throughout the evening that was quite indicative of the nature of the program was from Karli herself: “Follow your heart,” she would say to each individual who approached her with a question.
More than anything, TEEM represents hope. Seeing the genuine passion, curiosity and compassion for people and the planet gives me hope for a future where people are kind and caring to each other and the Earth.TEEM Manager Karli Cowman
This year, the TEEM program embodied what it means to be a community, to create connection and to lead by learning to let others lead. But perhaps most importantly, it was a space to make mistakes and take risks.
“It was really nice to have space outside of my high school experience to make mistakes and grow in a place that was separate from the rest of my life,” said third-year TEEM youth Olivia Bronzo-Munich, a senior at Sir Francis Drake High School in Marin.
Olivia had always envisioned becoming a scientist or professor. Prior to TEEM, she had planned to spend her years between undergrad and graduate school as a science middle school teacher, but now she’s considering teaching environmental education. Though she is heading off to Bowdoin College in Maine in the fall, she hopes to stay in touch with the friends she made through TEEM.
While I was expecting to learn more about the environment and teaching kids, I wasn’t expecting to become so much more comfortable with being myself in the process.TEEM Youth Olivia Bronzo-Munich
“I hope TEEM youth leave [the program] feeling comfortable with themselves, comfortable outside and strength in whoever they chose to be and that they have found their voice,” said Karli. “I hope youth leave feeling empowered to pursue their dreams and become the best version of themselves.”
Second-year TEEM participant Dahlia Gustafson, a junior at Gateway High School in San Francisco, echoed similar sentiments on building confidence and finding their place through the TEEM program. Moreover, Dahlia discovered a passion for teaching and the importance of environmental education.
“You see the kids faces lighting up when you realize they understand the importance of the issues facing our environment,” they said. “I’ve realized how important it is to start this early, teaching people the things they can do in their daily lives.
Both Olivia and Dahlia agreed that Karli is one of their “favorite people in the world.”
Karli’s own journey with NatureBridge began when she was a 5th grade student and her class took a week-long field trip to the our Golden Gate campus in the Headlands. Years later, after graduating from UCSC with a degree in Environmental Studies, she found her way back to the NatureBridge family. Since 2010 she has held eight different positions with NatureBridge, left and returned twice. According to Karli, she’s been in the TEEM Manager role or “the best job a person could imagine” for nearly five years.
I love being part of youths’ personal and professional development and growth in their self-confidence, leadership ability and willingness to take risks and make mistakes.TEEM Manager Karli Cowman
“Long term, I would love to see the TEEM program expand to other NatureBridge campuses,” said Karli. “I am excited to continue to stay connected with TEEM alumni and see how they inevitability change the world!”
TEEM 2018-2019 Snapshots:
- 11 first-year TEEM youth
- 3 second-year TEEM youth
- 4 third-year TEEM youth
- 9 first-generation college hopefuls
- 9 languages spoken at home, collectively
- 13 high schools represented
- 6 TEEM mentors
- 4 countries represented
- 1,029 total students taught
Stories
Fall Reflections from NatureBridge Yosemite
As an environmental science educator, I spend a lot of time teaching about nature, but this season I’ve been finding that as it turns out, nature has a lot to teach us, too. Sometimes I can let the trees, the meadow, and the lichen teach for me. They show us how to respect each other’s boundaries, how to celebrate differences, how to work together, and how to lean on each other’s strengths in order to exist in a new place. These lessons felt incredibly relevant to me heading into the first week of November, a notoriously busy time at NatureBridge Yosemite. I wanted to focus on messages of kindness and inclusivity with my students, I wanted them to feel a sense of belonging in this new space, and I also hoped that they would share those messages with others.
An Incredible 10th Anniversary of Evening on the Lake
On October 25, the Amazon Meeting Center in downtown Seattle buzzed with celebratory energy as over 300 NatureBridge guests and supporters gathered for the 10th anniversary of "Evening on the Lake," our signature Pacific Northwest fundraising event for our Olympic campus.
"Science became fun" at NatureBridge for Alum Laura Lomeli Russert
Laura Lomeli Russert is a NatureBridge alum who grew up in Groveland, CA and now calls Washington, D.C. home. Laura’s journey with NatureBridge began when she attended the Golden Gate campus as a young student with her class from Tenaya Elementary. Laura credits NatureBridge with shaping not only her love for nature but also her passion for education and science. "Science became fun,” she recalls. “You weren’t learning from a textbook anymore, and it became so much more real." Her hands-on, scientific experiences at NatureBridge laid the foundation for her eventual pursuit of a Ph.D. in psychology. “I feel like I owe a lot to NatureBridge."