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QaR
February 2009 
scholarship answers
Posted on Nov 26th, 2008
by 
Rebecca
Rebecca
- 1. My purpose is to educate people about the environment and to foster a passion for protecting nature in our youth.
- 2. I love nature and I love sharing my interest in the environment with others. As a Naturalist in Iowa I have the opportunity combine both while working in and introducing others to the outdoors. I believe that it is vital for the next generation to form connections with the world around them. Too many kids, even in the rural area I live in, do not spend much time outside working or playing. They've been cut off from nature. They cannot name birds or flowers living in their own backyards. I have been told that I am a great teacher and that my passion and excitement spreads to the groups I do environmental education programs with. My hope is that by introducing them to the outdoors, showing them that nature is fun in structured and unstructured ways, it will spark a growing curiosity in the plants, animals and systems at work around them and they will want to learn about it. As the quote by Baba Dioum states "In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." If I can begin teaching those lessons to the people that attend my programs then I know I will be helping improve and protect the environment long into the future.
- 3. I am one of the luckiest people on the planet because on many days I am already doing my ideal job working for a local Conservation Board. I am devoting my life to connecting people to nature, focusing on their local habitat. I love doing outdoor programs, and if I could I would never spend time in the office or sitting at a compute. Instead, I would spend every day with a different group outside in one of our parks or natural areas. I would go on canoe trips down the Cedar River with a group of 6th graders or lead a night hike with families of all ages. I would plant tallgrass prairie and then spend time showing high school students what many of the flowers were used for by the Native Americans or Pioneers. I would play round after round of "Predator-Prey" and only stop when everyone was tired of running and hiding and then I would take the kids fishing. My job allows me to do these things two or three times a week, the rest of the time being spent doing program preparations, PR work, grant writing and reports. At my ideal job I would never use a piece of paper again, unless it was to make an origami bat that could really flap its wings. After all, that's what really gets kids to not be afraid of them anymore.
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