People

Melissa King is an elementary school librarian in Montgomery County Public Schools. She is an active member of the Maryland Association of School Librarians and the Montgomery County Educational Media Staff Association. She serves on the Gaithersburg Book Festival planning committee and on the Friends of the Library, Montgomery County Board of Trustees. She is an active member of the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education.  She holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern Maine and a Master of Library Science from the University of Maryland’s iSchool. She loves learning about, spending time in, and photographing the outdoors.

Matt Scott leads storytelling at Project Drawdown, translating complex, science-based climate solutions to everyday people to spread awareness, shift attitudes, and spark action. His work focuses on “passing the mic” to the underrepresented, underestimated changemakers who’ve often gone unheard.

Lucy is an associate teaching professor in the Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management (RPTM) Department at Penn State University.

Mary Ford is the Senior Director of Roots & Shoots, the youth action program of the Jane Goodall Institute. Mary has an undergraduate degree in environmental science and policy from Harvard University and a master's degree in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her career has focused on environmental education and citizen science. She has worked at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the World Wildlife Fund, the National Audubon Society and the National Geographic Society. She has taught preschool, middle school, and high school, and has done ecology research from Borneo to Siberia. Mary has served on the board of the North American Association for Environmental Education, the Education Operating Committee for Project Learning Tree, the Advisory Board of Toyota TogetherGreen, and the board and Education Working Group of the Citizen Science Association.

Hi, my name is Deb Schein. I live in Minneapolis. I am an editor for Soul to Soul; I do research and write on the relationship between spirituality and nature; and I am one of the founders of the Loose Parts Laboratory in MN - sponsored by the Reggio Inspired Network of MN.

Katie has been active in the field of environmental education for 20 years. As the executive director of the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, she leads environmental literacy planning and implementation efforts and is active both locally and nationally.