We would like to welcome our new Environmental Educator, Brian Taylor! Brian is originally from Kalamazoo Michigan. He went to college at Western Michigan University and graduated with a B.S. in Education as well as a achieving a state teaching certificate. After teaching in a public school for a year, he decided to take his teaching experience outside and began working for several outdoor education programs. These included Nature’s Classroom in New Hampshire, Sierra Nevada Journeys in Northern California, and The Coosa River Science School in Alabama. He then became the Assistant Director of the Manice Education Center in the Berkshires of Western Mass. After being in a major leadership position for about two years, he started to miss actually being in the field teaching. In his search for reconnecting directly as an educator he found out about the North and South Rivers Watershed Association. Brian said, “I now am fortunate enough to be part of an amazing organization that is both teaching great things, as well as doing great things. I look forward to bringing forth a well-rounded teaching background with a love and passion for the environment. I am eager to teach, and excited to learn. I hope to have a positive impact on both the people I work with, as well as the land and water the organization is involved with.”
(Photo above right: Brian, at the Manice Education Center in the Berkshires, searching for macro-invertebrates in a fresh water pond with students from New York City. He is explaining how the life found in the pond helps us identify pollution levels in the water based on the presence of pollutant intolerant indicator species.)