MaryLynne Malone, President

MaryLynne Malone

MaryLynne Malone (president@nysoea.org)  is currently President, New York State Outdoor Education Association; as a member for over 20 years she has served on the board for approximately 10 years holding previous positions as VP Communications and President Elect. MaryLynne has served on countless Conference Committees for Auction and raffle, and is the recipient of the NYSOEA Service Award 1999 and 2008.

As an Independent Outdoor/Environmental Education Consultant, MaryLynne works with the Orange County Water Authority, SHARPE Reservation Fresh Air Fund, as well as many other organizations and is employed seasonally as the Coordinator Regional Museums, Harriman State Park, an affiliate of the Trailside Museum and Wildlife Center servicing the Group Camp areas of the park.

Some of her accomplishments include being awarded Conservation Educator of the Year 1998, New York State Conservation Council. Environmental Educator of the Year, Orange County 1998, Seasonal Employee of the Year 1996 & Certificate of Appreciation 2002, Palisades Interstate Park Commission and the Community Connection Award from the Monroe/Woodbury School District 2008. She was a participant in Rockland County Cooperative Extension – Environmental Awareness Day from 1989-96 and she has participated in Orange County Soil and Water Conservation Field Days for over a decade. Mrs. Malone is a Project Wet Facilitator, and is heavily involved with both school and Girl Scouts in her community.

MaryLynne is fortunate enough to live in a state park affording her the opportunities to get out and enjoy all of the wonders the forest and the lake have to offer.

Meaghan Boice-Green, Secretary

MaryLynne Malone

Meaghan Boice-Green (secretary@nysoea.org)   just started her second term as secretary of NYSOEA. She has attended NYSOEA conferences since 2005 to “receive an annual dose of inspiration and enjoy camaraderie with fellow environmental educators.”

Meaghan is currently Center Director at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Reinstein Woods Environmental Education Center outside of Buffalo, New York.

Her environmental education experience dates back to her years as an undergraduate at Oberlin College and a graduate student at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Meaghan is an active member of her local fire company auxiliary and enjoys camping in the Adirondacks with her husband and two children.

Tim Stanley, VP Human Resources

Tim Stanley

(vp_human_resources@nysoea.org)  I am privileged to serve on the NYSOEA board of directors as VP of Human Resources. It is my charge to build the membership, develop relationships with people and organizations that share our commitment to the outdoors and education.

I attained my BT in Agriculture at SUNY Cobleskill and an AAS in forestry from SUNY ESF. After being a Maryland Forest Ranger for two years, I returned to New York where I currently work for The Fresh Air Fund’s Sharpe Environmental Center as an Environmental Education Coordinator. I have been in this position for many years providing quality environmental and agricultural education to many schools and of course, many summers of Fresh Air Fund campers. It is my intent to inspire the present and future generations to develop social responsibility for the natural world, their inheritance.

My greatest pleasure is canoeing an Adirondack lake on a sunny August day surrounded by water and wilderness. It is there I truly feel part of something and life just makes sense.

Rebecca Houser, VP Programs

Rebecca Houser

Rebecca Houser (vp_programs@nysoea.org) is NYSOEA’s Vice President of programs for this year (2009).

She has been a member for 7 years and served previously on the board as the Eastern Region Representative.

She has been teaching environmental education for the past 13 years, and for the past 8 has been teaching about the Hudson River.

An avid outdoor woman she enjoys hiking, swimming, and gardening.

Nirmal Merchant, VP Communications

Nirmal Merchant

Nirmal Merchant (vp_communications@nysoea.org)joins the NYSOEA board as VP of Communications, this year (2009). His mission is to bring the NYSOEA.org website and the Pathways publications into the Web 2.0 era. He plans to open them for interaction with anyone and everyone interested in environmental education, by leveraging social and open media.

He currently serves as IT Project Manager at McKinsey & Company where he works on solving business problems using technology, in financial, content and knowledge management domains. He is the organizer of the New York, Product Owners Meetup and co-organizer of the Agile UX Design Meetup. He practices and evangalizes Agile Software Development principles and has presented at the New York File Maker Developer’s group, the International Institute of Business Analysts group and the New York Agile and XP developers group meetings.

When he is not getting his hands dirty in technology, he bikes or kayaks along the Hudson. He makes it a point to be in touch with nature, be it scuba diving, biking or hiking whenever he travels. He enjoys absorbing the beauty of nature and culture.

Nirmal feels that the our generation is a bit removed from the very forces and resources that sustain it and that environmental education plays a key role in strengthening that connection. He hopes that his participation at NYSOEA gives him an avenue to make a difference in that direction.

Elizabeth Van Acker, Treasurer

Elizabeth Van Acker

(treasurer@nysoea.org)I have been a member with NYSOEA for 4 years. Currently treasurer.

I started working for The Olga Fleisher Ornithological Foundation 15 years ago as the office manager. In 1999 I got the opportunity to participate in the building of Huckleberry Swamp which opened in the fall of 2001.

Since then I have continued my position in the office along with running a few programs at Huckleberry Swamp. I also currently serve on the foundation board as secretary/treasurer.

I enjoy spending my spare time with my 3 daughters and my husband. We enjoy kayaking, whitewater rafting, and a monthly movie night.

John Garesché, VP Administration

John Garesché

John Garesché graduated with an environmental science degree from Bates College, and has gone on to use that degree as an entrepreneur and consultant. Spending 10 years in the Jackson Hole, WY area where he moved as a wilderness guide, he built up a technology business which he sold to transition to the non-profit sector as a fundraising consultant. After he moved back to New York in 2003 to raise his family he moved into the financial consulting field and currently works with Raymond James Financial Services in Kingston, NY and consults for numerous non-profits organizations and philanthropically inclined individuals with a specialty in socially responsible investments. John is also a director for the Woodstock Land Conservancy. John has two children, Briana and Sylvan and lives with his wife, Erin in historic uptown Kingston.

 
 
 
Emily Hughes, Student Liasion

Emily Hughes

Emily (studentliason@nysoea.org) is a native of Fayetteville, NY currently working towards her Masters in Environmental Studies from SUNY ESF. With a goal of creating a residential environmental learning center in Central New York, Emily is also studying nonprofit management and earning a certificate in sustainable enterprise from Syracuse University. She is excited to beginning working with NYSOEA to learn from what they do and offer a new perspective. On weekends you’ll find her leading backcountry camping trips for her Alma mater of RIT and clocking a few hours at the local bike shop, Epic Outdoor Adventures.

REGIONAL CHAIRS

Jessica Kratz, Metro Region Chair

Metro Region Counties:  Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), Nassau, New York (Manhattan),Queens, Richmond (Staten Island), Suffolk, Westchester

Jessica Kratz

Incoming Metro Region chair Jessica Kratz (metro_region@nysoea.org) currently serves as a Coordinator for the Greenbelt Nature Center. She joined NYSOEA in 2004, when she attended her first conference in Montauk and has since been to several conferences throughout the state and presented at the ’08 conference in the Adirondacks.

She has worked with NYC Department of Parks & Recreation for nearly a decade and has experience as an AmeriCorps member, Urban Park Ranger, and a program analyst for the GreenApple Corps public service/green collar jobs program.Through these diverse experiences, she learned parts of the Metro Region she never knew existed – from green roofs in Chelsea and Tremont to the salt marshes of Southern Brooklyn to the forests of Staten Island she calls home.Jessica is also a NYC Master Composter, Parkie pen pal, and is always looking for new opportunities to learn and serve.Along the way, she has developed her networking and pr skills and incorporates her experiences as a poet and history lecturer. “Costume Girl” exudes the enthusiasm, energy, and chutzpah of 21st century New York.

Dr. Benette Whitmore, Regional Director – Central

 Central Region Counties:  Broome, Cayuga, Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Seneca, Schuyler, Tioga, Tompkins, Yates

Dr. Benett Whitmore

Dr. Benette Whitmore (central_region@nysoea.org) has a doctoral degree from Syracuse University’s School of Education, and a master’s degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse.  She is Writing Program Director at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she teaches courses in environmental writing and public presentation skills for environmental professionals.  She has published seven children’s books and short fiction, as well as 35 episodes of an award-winning children’s television show, Pappyland, and is playwright for an environmental children’s play.  Benette and her husband, Tom McGrath, present an environmental educational program called “Go Animal!” at elementary schools throughout the Northeast.  In her free time, she enjoys kayaking, snowshoeing, and hiking while exploring the magnificent Central New York landscape.

Lauren Makeyenko, Regional Director – Western

Western Region Counties:  Allegany, Cattaraugus, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming

Lauren Makeyenko

Lauren Makeyenko (western_region@nysoea.org) joined the NYSOEA board this year as the Western New York region chair. She attended her first NYSOEA conference in 2006 at Beaver Hollow Conference Center and uses many of the techniques from workshops she attended at that conference to this day. She is currently the Experience Manager at Tifft Nature Preserve, a 264-acre urban preserve operated by the Buffalo Museum of Science. Prior to working at Tifft, Lauren held a position as an Environmental Educator at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve. She has also worked for the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning in the pollution prevention program and as Program Coordinator for the Center for Great Lakes Environmental Education. She co-instructs a Great Lakes Ecology course at the University of Buffalo and loves to get students involved with local environmental organizations.

Lauren spends most of her free time with her husband Josh and 22-month old daughter Ruby. Living in the historic district of Buffalo, they like to bust out and explore nature areas throughout WNY whenever they can. Since Ruby’s current favorite activity is lifting rocks to find worms, Lauren often finds herself getting dirty wherever a rock can be found! Lauren also enjoys nature photography, especially macro. She is excited to be working with NYSOEA and can’t wait for the conference to come to Buffalo in 2010!

Natalie Rider, Regional Director – Eastern

Eastern Region Counties:  Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Orange, Otsego, Rensselaer, Rockland, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster, Washington

Natalie Rider

Natalie Rider (eastern_region@nysoea.org) is Hudson Valley, born and raised. Currently a resident of Kingston, New York, Natalie can be found enjoying day hikes in Ulster and Dutchess Counties, sailing on the Hudson, camping in the Catskills, and hanging out around her backyard garden with friends. Natalie is a biology teacher at Beacon High School, in her home town. She also teaches outdoor education at Sharpe Reservation in Fishkill. She has been working for the Fresh Air Fund since 2002. Her goal as a NYSOEA board member is to help others in the region find practical ways to integrate indoor and outdoor environmental education, especially on the secondary school level. Natalie graduated from the University of Rhode Island with dual majors in Biology and Elementary Education in 2002.  She earned her Master’s degree in Literacy from SUNY New Paltz in 2005. At the center of Natalie’s life is her 2 year old daughter, Hannah. While being a working Mom can be a very busy lifestyle, she’s always looking for family-friendly outdoor fun and will actively pursue NYSOEA affiliated events in the region where Hannah can learn and play.

Amanda Ackers, Regional Director -Eastern

Amanda Ackers

Amanda Ackers (eastern_region@nysoea.org) has been a member of NYSEOA since 2010 and is pleased to join the board.  She recieved her BSEd from Bloomsburg University and her MSEd from SUNY New Paltz. She has worked at Dutchess Day School teaching elementary and middle school science since 2006.  She will begin teaching 4th grade in 2011. Amanda fell in love with the outdoors as a child growing up in Dutchess County and has enjoyed nature ever since.  Beginning at the age of 15, she spent 8 summers teaching at the Fresh Air Fund summer camp and 2 years at the Environmental Education Center. Through this experience, she developed her skills, knowledge, and ability to share the great outdoors with children. She hopes that, as a classroom teacher, she can spread the word about outdoor education with the idea that it will become more integrated into the daily education of children. Why not teaching, Amanda enjoys hiking, geocaching, kayaking, coaching soccer, and working on improving her green thumb.

Gary Griz Caudle, Regional Director – Northern

Northern Region Counties:  Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Oswego, St. Lawrence, Warren

Gary Griz Caudle

Gary ‘Griz’ Caudle (northern_region@nysoea.org) is an adjunct lecturer at SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY
Geneseo. He retired from full time teaching 7 years ago and moved to
the land he has loved his whole life; the Adirondacks. He has written
several college programs for experiential outdoor education and various
curricula for elementary and high school classes. In his spare time,
he paddles when the lakes and streams are open, hikes and climbs
year-round, and snowboards over 100 days a season. His goal for NYSOEA
is to have every New York school involved in some manner with the
organization.

“The greatest gift teachers can give is to help youth
validate themselves as capable people.”