Staff Spotlight: Brandon Tolentino-Serrano, Program Manager
By Lily Gordon, Program Coordinator
Brandon remembers his first interview at Nature Linc in 2020: it was the height of the pandemic, and they sat in the garden surrounded by forest. The leaves were just starting to change, and Brandon, who grew up in Houston, Texas, said it felt “magical.” He loved the idea of working outdoors and getting the chance to use what he learned in his Environmental Science degree from Pomona College. When he was hired as an Outdoor Educator to teach an outdoor homeschool cohort, Brandon didn’t imagine that in five years he’d be Nature Linc’s Program Manager and have piloted and developed an incredible new program.
Fast forward a few years: Brandon’s manager asked him if he’d like to take on a brand new program serving middle school aged youth from low income backgrounds. He remembers feeling “incredibly nervous at the time,” not having worked with middle schoolers. However, Brandon felt inspired by his supervisor’s confidence in him, the collaboration of the team in planning a thoughtful new program, and the opportunity to “bring in my personal passions… like environmental justice.” In the spring of 2023, the first Middle School cohort was launched. The group of 13 youth met weekly at the Healey School, building outdoor skills by utilizing nearby green spaces such as Blessing of the Bay Park at the Mystic River. Every month or two, Brandon took the group on a field trip to “big nature” spots such as Middlesex Fells or Farrington Nature Linc’s Lincoln site. That spring, Brandon’s initial nervousness quickly faded as he saw what a fantastic experience youth had in the program.
The Middle School Program is still running strong in its fourth year, and it’s actually expanding! After the 2023 pilot, Brandon felt gratified hearing the overwhelmingly positive feedback from parents and youth. This Middle School program really worked, and what’s more, it had the capacity to grow into something with even more impact. After the initial grant funding ended, Nature Linc applied to and received grants to support the program from foundations such as the Dorr Foundation, Pabis Foundation, Hamilton Charitable Foundation, and the company Arc’teryx. This not only allowed Brandon to continue running the program during the school year, but it also allowed him to expand to a summer version in the summer of 2025, and then expand to two cohorts this 2025-2026 school year.
Some of Brandon’s favorite memories from the middle school program are the field trips. The group has tried kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, and nature photography, to name a few. The winter field trips can be a little more challenging, Brandon says, but he sees a lot of value in teaching youth to be outside in all types of weather and to work together to get through the challenge. One bitterly cold field trip at Drumlin Farm, there was no inside space to escape from the cold other than a very smelly barn. Even in that moment, the group really bonded over the experience and had fond memories of huddling in the barn together.
Working with the middle school age group comes with its challenges, and Brandon’s has to work to understand the unique social dynamics of each cohort; it can get “heated” between students at times. He works hard to “make sure no one's ever feeling left out or bullied” and that they feel a sense of safety and belonging in the group. When difficult dynamics or behavior issues come up, Brandon meets youth where they’re at, doing his best to understand where they’re coming from rather than jumping to conclusions. He also tries hard to keep youth off their phone during the program, an incredibly difficult task! He’s found it helps a lot when they are doing hands-on activities outside that engage kids and give them a natural technology break.
Though he grew up in a city, Brandon has fond memories of playing outside with his brothers in a nearby forested park. At Nature Linc, he has gotten to build up his outdoor skills and knowledge of New England nature, learning how to identify plants and animals, set up tarps and tends, and layer up for freezing winters. With these skills gained from his work, Brandon gets more out of being outside himself now, and he loves having the chance to teach these skills to youth so they can build up that confidence too. He’s always had a “love of sharing what [he’s] learned with those that may not know or need a hand or struggling.” Brandon hopes to see the Middle School Program expand even more, to “have many more middle school cohorts that are being led by different people, that are up to speed and trained” to keep connecting even more young people to nature.