Like most of you on INaturalist, I've loved nature since I was a child and it has played a pivotal role in making me in the person I am today. Professionally, I have been an environmental science teacher focusing on ecology and developing biophilia (EO Wilson's term from the innate connection humans have for nature) in young people for the past 21 years in Suffield CT. One could say that I have been on a mission to get kids outside and reconnected to the nature world, and they wouldn't be wrong. :)

I have a bachelors in natural resources with a focus on wildlife ecology from University of Maine Orono and a masters in natural resources and environmental science from the University of Illinois. I spent a small amount of time doing general biota inventories and bird work in Southern California and the PNW prior to teaching.

I am a National Geographic Certified Educator, a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow and recently finished the NAAEE CEE Change Fellowship. I am committed to the core to helping young people learn about the planet, and moreover, to helping them see themselves as part of the solution to save it.