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By Savannah Boiano
I’ll admit that when asked to define the contributions of said naturalist, I had to consult a dictionary. Flipping quickly to the L’s, I did find "Lisa" there. Here’s how she was defined: “Consecrated.” Yes, that’s what I found. That’s a big word! Looking up a synonym, I found “devoted.” And that, dear readers, is the perfect word for Lisa!
Lisa has worked in environmental education since 1992, beginning at SCICON as an intern naturalist. Following that life-changing experience, she worked at Calvin Crest Outdoor School, Green Meadows Outdoor School, the Headlands Institute. . . do you really want to hear it all? Suffice is to say that Lisa’s been around for a while. She’s made memorable contributions during her stops: she might have helped them COMPLETELY overhaul their curriculum, procured donated computers and other needed materials, or worked with the community to add a unique experience to the school’s menu of opportunities. If she needed to go get another piece of training done so that she could be most effective for the school, she’s done that too. Education is her vocation.
Her contributions to AEOE are numerous and include treasurer, membership, northern chair, in addition to much work helping with conferences. If you're a quick observer, you've caught a glimpse of her as she coordinates presenters, participants, or logistics. All with a wickedly fun sense of humour and an eye toward success and adventure.
Oh, have I not mentioned students, yet? Lisa has worked with hundreds of students, taking special interest in their successes and creating memorable field days for them.
She’s got a knack for education and encouraging community interest in the quality and opportunities surrounding them. She’s devoted.
Dan Webster and I were super privileged to be able to bestow this award on everyone’s behalf. Congratulations, Lisa.
by Jenn Richard
Lisa Murphy is this year’s recipient of the AEOE Northern California Environmental Educator of the Year award. The award was presented to Lisa during AEOE’s Northern Fall Campout Conference in Tamarack Flat, Yosemite National Park. Each year, the award is presented to an outstanding naturalist or teacher in the field who has made an important contribution to the area of environmental and outdoor education and whose work and enthusiasm is an inspiration to students and fellow teachers.
Lisa, whose quick smile and exuberance for environmental and outdoor education is contagious, is a former AEOE Northern Council Co-Chair and former Northern Treasurer, and has been working in the field of environmental education for 14 years. Environmental education has provided her with an opportunity to work with a variety of programs in a number of roles. Her career has included: Director of the Coastal Redwoods Environmental School in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Field Science Instructor at the Headlands Institute, and Assistant Director for Calvin Crest Outdoor School.
Lisa began her environmental education career with internships at the Clemmie Gill School of Science and Conservation (SCICON) in Tulare County and the Jack L. Boyd Outdoor School at Green Meadows. Lisa returned to SCICON as an activities specialist. She has a B.A. from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and a teaching credential from Fresno Pacific University.
Currently, Lisa is involved in a number of ventures aimed to build connections between people and the environment in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She is an environmental science specialist for Boulder Creek Home School, a teacher at Fall Creek Home School, and is running a number of environmental education campouts for schools in her local community. This work, teaching in the classrooms as well as in the public lands nearby, allows Lisa to link students and their schools directly to their local redwood forest, watershed, land ocean connections, and stewardship projects with organizations in the local community.
Stewardship is one of Lisa’s passions as an educator and she has participated in a myriad of stewardship projects, inviting students to help make positive change in their local environment through trash clean ups, water quality monitoring, invasive plant removals, and native plant projects. Lisa, also, sees the summers she spends in the high country as a National Park Service ranger in Yosemite as an opportunity to help develop “life-long stewards of our public lands,” through fostering connections between the park visitors and the natural and cultural history of the land.
When asked how she got involved with environmental education, Lisa replies, “nature and nurture.” Her father was a scientist and Boy Scout leader and her mother was a teacher - it’s only natural that she became an environmental educator. She grew up closely connected to the natural world - growing a garden and tending a compost heap; learning about responsible stewardship by participating in recycling and “paper drives”; and playing outside in the ocean, mountains, and deserts of Southern California. Lisa also credits her parents with exposing her to environmental and social justice issues early in life and encouraging her to “be a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem.”