Presenting at the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society

By Lily Gordon, Program Coordinator

For the past several years, Farrington Nature Linc staff have presented at the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society (MEES) conference. This year, since we have so many amazing projects in the works, we were able to present on two different topics! The conference, held in Dudley, MA, was a wonderful opportunity for Nature Linc staff to share knowledge with other educators, learn from others' work, and build relationships with new potential partners. 

Meg Ito, in collaboration with Paul Fenton, Director of Environmental and Outdoor Education at the Discovery Museum, presented on the topic, “Helping Community Partners Deliver Environmental Education.” As the Director of Education and Community Partnerships, Meg has worked and continues to work to build our existing partnerships and create new ones with other organizations that align with our Mission. Meg and Paul used their own successful collaboration as a model of how environmental education organizations can build partnerships that expand their impact into new areas of their communities.

Brandon Tolentino-Serrano, Lily Gordon, and Arabella Notar-Francesco presented on the topic “Getting Middle Schoolers Off Their Phones and Into Nature.” Since Brandon piloted this program in 2023, he has been running and expanding it in exciting ways, doubling the number of youth served in the program by adding an additional cohort this past year. Lily and Arabella have both assisted with co-leading the program, so they shared their own personal anecdotes from their experiences with the middle schoolers. Brandon, Lily, and Arabella shared detailed ideas on how to make middle school outdoor programs accessible, create safe learning experiences, and engage middle schoolers in environmental justice topics.

For all the Nature Linc staff presenters, it was satisfying to present to audiences of other educators working towards a common goal of environmental justice. Audience members asked excellent questions and had overwhelmingly positive feedback for presenters. FNL staff also loved getting the chance to learn from other educators by attending workshops on a wide range of topics, taking notes on ideas we want to bring home to our own organization. Staff were inspired by the network of fantastic environmental educators creating change across Massachusetts in so many creative ways: everything from empathy-based zoo programming to watershed science programs to trauma-informed training for outdoor educators.