Wahsega 4-H Center: Environmental Education

Spring 2011 EE Staff

Sandy Hi all! I am a returning staff member this year, coming back from Maine for the spring season. I began environmental education during my junior year of college through an internship at the Maine Audubon Society. There I worked at a salt marsh teaching all the little kiddies about ecology. I stuck with that and various other education jobs before coming to Wahsega. I'm so excited to be back down south and ready for another great season of exploring and learning!		Joe I am a recent graduate of North Georgia College and a long time resident here in the mountains of Georgia. This will be my second season at Wahsega as I spent the Fall of 2010 as an intern here. I have also worked at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell teaching in the field. My hobbies include canoeing, backpacking and environmentally friendly architecture. I cannot wait to spend the season here!
James My name is James. I am originally from Metter, Georgia, a small town west of Savannah. I moved to Dahlonega four years ago to finish college, and in 2009, I graduated with a degree in history and philosophy. I moved to the mountains because I was fascinated with the natural environment of this area and have become an avid outdoorsman while living here. Some of my favorite hobbies are reading and writing about nature, hiking, climbing, and learning to live a more environmentally aware lifestyle. I look forward to my second season working at Wahsega. I believe there is no greater tool for the subsistence of this earth than to bestow children with the understanding that they have a responsibility to protect and support it through their daily actions. In my opinion, there is no better classroom than nature, and I am very happy to be able to help young minds experience the insight that environmental education can offer.		Sophia Some of the best days of my life have been spent in the great outdoors. Working at Wahsega gives me an excellent opportunity to share my enthusiasm for adventure and exploration with young minds. My journey working as an environmental educator began in Oregon where I worked as an Interpretive Park Ranger at Crater Lake National Park as well as in a Classroom as a Crater Lake Ranger. From there I took the opportunity to explore a less familiar part of our nation and moved to Georgia where I worked in EE at Rock Eagle 4-H center last spring season. I have earned a master's degree in history and plan to continue working as an educator, preferably in less traditional venues just like Wahsega. I love spending my free time outside snowboarding, biking, hiking, camping and canoeing, and whenever I get the chance I try and travel to new areas to enjoy these hobbies. I just spent almost two months traveling in Africa where I summited Mount Kilimanjaro! And now I am looking forward to this new adventure in the beautiful mountains of northern Georgia!
Betsy I attended Western Illinois University where I received a B.S. and M.S. in Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration. I spent a summer as a Park Ranger in Fairbanks, Alaska and participated in a semester travel program called ECOEE where we visited many national parks, outdoor education centers and camps around the United States. I taught EE at Camp Algonquin in the NW Chicago Suburbs and at Horn Field Campus in Macomb, IL. I am looking forward to getting back to the outdoor classroom and experiencing the culture of Georgia and the adventure of meeting new people and teaching kids!		Alexander I am a recent graduate from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since then I have enjoyed working as a hand on a small, family-owned, organic vegetable farm outside Grand Rapids while keeping bees in town on a friend's rooftop. I am fascinated by insect social structures and their evolution and by animal physiology in general. Convinced I have channeled squirrel, I am an avid climber and a peanut lover (though I don't bury them in fall). I look forward to teaching Appalachian ecology: more specifically, wading into streams, churning up the riverbed, and catching invertebrates.
Ryan Hello. My name is Ryan. I grew up in The Quad City area of Illinois, the middle of John Deere country! I gained a great appreciation of the outdoors while in Boy Scouts where I earned the rank of Eagle Scout. I spent my summers at different camps getting involved with nature. I believe all of these outdoor experiences led me to my degree in Recreation, Park and Tourism Administration. After graduating from Western Illinois University, I worked during the spring of last year in Environmental Education in California. In the summer I was the Assistant Director of Camp Orme in Arizona (where I spent two amazing summers during college as a counselor). I am excited about coming to the South as this is an area I have never been. I love to hike, kayak, canoe, try new back country recipes and in general be outdoors. I can't wait to begin this new and exciting adventure with the campers, teachers and staff at Wahsega!		Sarah My name is Sarah. I hail originally from Kansas City, but I've spent my summers exploring the outdoors in the Colorado Rockies, Maryland, and most recently on Mount St. Helens, where I worked as an Interpretive Ranger. I am working toward a BS in Environmental Studies from the University of Kansas. I love environmental education because it is such a fun mixture of science, communication, and being outdoors. In my spare time, I love to bake, hike, and play guitar and ukulele. I am so excited for a season of learning, exploring, and teaching all about northern Georgia!

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