Current and Past Projects
Below you will find a list of current and past projects. To learn more about each location click on the link in the title.
Current Project - Environmental Education Curriculum
I am currently building a large personal library of outdoor education curriculum through attending various educator trainings. My library includes curriculum from Project Wild, Flying Wild, The Wonders of Wetlands (WOW), Project Wet, California Coastal Commission, California's Education and the Environment Innitiative, The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and Project Learning Tree, among others.
I am working on adapting many of the lessons from these curriculum to fit the local ecosystems of Southern California, focusing on ecosystems found in and around Los Angeles. You can find these under the Resources tab.
I would be happy to make these lessons available to schools via classroom visit or PDF upon request. You can contact me HERE.
Past Project - Natural History Museum of L.A.
I was a Live Animal Keeper and Camp Instructor at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. I helped care for over 100 invertebrates both on display and in the living collections. I also helped manage, maintain, and interpret the butterfly and spider pavilion exhibits seasonally. I also helped interpret other museum halls including the Dueling Dinos, Megamouth and Coelacanth specimens, Oarfish specimen, Three Muses Rotunda, the Discovery Center, and Dinosaur Hall.
Through this I gained valuable experience with interpretive techniques, USDA regulated live animal care, and information on the rich history of Los Angeles and the regional invertebrate biodiversity.
Past Project - Friends of the Ballona Wetlands
I worked with the Friends of Ballona Wetlands. As an Intern, I helped develop curriculum and lead the education program field trips. These programs are focused on engaging students and volunteers through hands on restoration work in the Ballona Wetlands.
The Friends of Ballona Wetlands is a non-profit organization that has worked to protect, preserve, and restore the last remaining coastal wetland in Los Angeles since the mid 1970s. Since 1994 over 75,000 volunteers of all ages have helped restore this valuable habitat through the Friends’ ecological restoration program. The dunes are being transformed from a weedy hillside into a healthy habitat rich with the textures of native flora and wildlife. Native insects, reptiles, and birds are returning to feed, rest and nest among the new native plants. In 2010 Ballona Discovery Park opened in Playa Vista, allowing for in depth and hands on environmental educational opportunities for students of all ages.
Past Project - Natural Bridges State Beach
As an Intern for the Interpretive Program in the spring I helped work on, develop, and lead tide pool tours for regional schools on their field trip. In addition, I helped create interactive displays for the visitor center.
Some of my original lesson plans focusing on tidepool ecology and ecosystems can be found under the RESOURCES tab.
Natural Bridges State Beach is world-renowned for its yearly migration of monarch butterflies. Visitors can see thousands during the butterflies’ peak season. The best time to see monarchs in the park is usually from mid-October to late January.This beach, with its famous natural bridge, is an excellent place to view shore and ocean birds, migrating whales, and seals and otters playing offshore. Further along the beach, tidepools offer a glimpse of life beneath the sea. Low tides reveal sea stars, crabs, sea anemones, and other colorful ocean life. The park also includes areas of coastal scrub meadows, with bright native wildflowers in the spring. Moore Creek flows down to the ocean through these meadows, forming a wetland in the sand.