Another great group of environmental educators will be joing the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies for the spring 2018 Alaskan Coastal Ecology school program season.
Ashley Daniels
Ashley Daniels grew up in Chicago and graduated from Purdue University where she conducted undergraduate research studying the effects of water quality on salamander growth. With her degree in Wildlife Biology, she began her career chasing birds across the outback and sea turtles down the Gulf of Mexico beaches. However, after a year with AmeriCorps on the Florida Panhandle teaching environmental education, she found her calling in teaching and hasn’t looked back. She spent three years teaching Marine Science Honors, AP Environmental Science, and AP Biology in a Florida public high school, incorporating as many field trips and hands-on learning as possible, but she knew she needed to be in nature’s classroom.. She is incredibly excited to join the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies team of inspiring educators, where she feels she can most thoroughly express her passions and where students have the best opportunity for learning and growth in a natural environment.
Ashley loves to be outside in every capacity, from hiking to camping, and is hoping to learn rock climbing when she moves to the Colorado this summer as an education fellow for Walking Mountains Science Center. She has spent the majority of the last year backpacking across Asia, hiking the Himalayas, diving in Thailand, and pursuing orangutans in Sumatra. She aims to build on a global perspective towards conservation, to learn as much as possible from locals along the way, and to spread the message of sustainability. One of Ashley’s greatest happinesses is sharing her love of whole foods and a plant based diet with anyone that will eat her concoctions, and she hopes to continue to pursue holistic health and happiness!
Laura Walls
Laura is originally from San Diego where tide pool exploration and weekly dolphin gazing set her on an environmental path. Laura received her bachelors in environmental studies and anthropology from UC Santa Cruz. Laura was part of a field study researching northern spotted owls in northern California, is returned Peace Corps, Zambia volunteer, taught environmental education in the Outer Banks, and led nutrition based cooking classes in New York City. A healthy love and respect for traveling, exploring, and feeling her way through new experiences has given Laura a life long dedication to the natural world and our part in it.
Misha Klassen
Misha is originally from the suburbs of Washington D.C., where she grew up playing in the wetlands of the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, areas that are heavily impacted by the nearby cities. Misha was a “save the bay” advocate and nature nerd from the get-go, and hopes to inspire the next generation of nature’s students through her work as an environmental educator. Misha made her way from Washington D.C. to Washington state for college where she earned a degree in mathematics while spending her summers in Southeast AK as an educator and salmon research technician. After graduating, she spent several months as a volunteer English teacher in northern Peru, where she explored her role as an educator within a rapidly changing economic and ecological landscape.
When not bushwhacking through the woods with curious groups of students, Misha can be found trail running, swimming, or just jumping into cold water. She also finds delight in discovering new ways to bring art into the fields of science and nature.
Shannon Moore
Born in Georgia and raised in Alabama, Shannon has always called the south home. A childhood filled with playing outside instilled a lifelong curiosity about the environment. She attended Samford University and, unable to decide what subject she liked best, majored in Geography with a double minor in Biology and Spanish. Soon after college, she moved out to the McDowell Environmental Center, where she was introduced to the wonderful world of environmental education. In addition to teaching and eventually coordinating at both McDowell and the Cahaba Environmental Center in Alabama, she has also worked a bit further south as a guest naturalist in Córdoba, Argentina, where she had the opportunity to work on her Spanish, eat new foods, and drink lots of mate. In her spare time she can be found reading, playing the violin, or sprawled out on the ground trying to get the perfect picture of a bug. She is excited for this new adventure on the Alaskan coast and ready to learn alongside everyone she meets!
Seth Spencer
Seth is originally from Minnesota, but now lives in Homer. He spent his first spring as an environmental educator for the Center for Alasan Coastal Studies, and now works as the Education Program Coordinator and Wynn Nature Center Coordinator. He has a Masters of Education, and his background is connecting youth with the natural world around them. He is an avid birder, and loves poking around tide pools seeing what he can find! He can’t wait to help you see the wonders of the natural world in and around Kachemak Bay.
