Stories from the Field
Staff Spotlight: Drew Gallant
When your classroom is the great outdoors, teaching and learning can happen anywhere! That’s the attitude Drew Gallant brings to his work with NatureBridge as a multi-campus educator. Drew first joined NatureBridge as an educator at our Prince William Forest campus in Virginia in the spring of 2022. From there, his multi-campus adventures have taken him to two of our California sites, Dangermond Preserve and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Although it’s located across the country from his childhood home of Maine, Drew now considers our Golden Gate campus to be “home.” This isn’t surprising, considering his favorite NatureBridge memory is that of sighting a pod of dolphins off Rodeo Beach with a group of Golden Gate students!
Alumni Spotlight: Whitney Mowll
Whitney Mowll’s experience with NatureBridge (then Yosemite Institute) always returns to the question “Why,” but not in the way you might expect. An innocuous moment conducting water monitoring tests caused Whitney to wonder why she only thought of science as a singular experience revolving around lab coats and test tubes, and why does any of this type of science matter in our daily lives? This led her on a lifetime’s work in and around environmental education and stewardship. Now, as the Executive Coordinator for the National Park Service Friends Alliance and Instructor at the Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming, “Why” is the question that continues to inspire her work both personally and professionally.
NatureBridge Chosen By National Park Trust And National Park Service As A 2023 Challenge Cost Share Awardee
The National Park Trust, in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), announced recently $375,100 to fund 18 education and outdoor recreation projects through the 2023 NPS Challenge Cost Share Program. Each project connects a local community to a nearby national park, national trail, or wild and scenic river. This year’s group of awardees will engage more than 8,600 participants in active, healthy outdoor recreation and in education initiatives that increase knowledge about our nation’s natural and cultural heritage.