Teacher Spotlight: Kathryn Hartman
Kathryn Hartman has had many different roles during her experiences with NatureBridge. Over her four visits to NatureBridge’s Olympic campus, she has been a teacher, a parent chaperone and most recently, an administrator working toward her principal certification for the Port Angeles School District in Washington. 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. “I bring my students to NatureBridge for the hands-on learning experiences that connect to the region and topics relevant to their learning,” Kathryn says. “This is a program that is literally in our own backyard that creates connections to what we are learning in the classroom to our natural surroundings in a meaningful and powerful way.”
They are able to take what they learn in the outside world and apply it to the classroom where they can continue their learning. This quality experience creates connections that continue beyond the initial trip and can be referred back to throughout the year.Kathryn Hartman, Administrative Intern and Teacher, Port Angeles School District
But it’s not just the parallels to the curriculum that are important to Kathryn. She knows that even the most interesting material can fall flat if students aren’t engaged. That is why Kathryn continues to bring her students to NatureBridge programs. “The programs are engaging and well-run by staff and provide students with captivating lessons that create great learning experiences and group bonding at the same time,” she explains.
NatureBridge is set up to utilize the natural environment and extended day to show that learning doesn’t need to be confined to four walls and a traditional schedule. It takes concepts that may be presented in a textbook format and brings the content alive and up close for students to interact with.Kathryn Hartman, Administrative Intern and Teacher, Port Angeles School District
As for the lasting impact, Kathryn sees indelible transformations in her students regularly. Aside from the field science experiments, team-building activities and social and emotional learning, students take with them a sense of joy and wonder well into the future. “I have heard stories told years later from students that this was their favorite memory of the entire school year from multiple kids,” Kathryn notes. “They remember their experiences, the songs and the fun they had learning.”
Photos courtesy of Kathryn Hartman
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."