People

Colleen supports the NAAEE Coalition for Climate Education Policy communication and coordination efforts and climate change education policy research. She joins us from the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Office, where she worked closely with the Environmental Literacy and Diversity working groups. She gathered and analyzed data on environmental literacy and educational policies in the Chesapeake Bay region to support the infusion of environmental education and green career awareness into more school content areas. She also supported NOAA’s B-WET grants which aid in the systemic implementation of Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) into K-12 curriculums. Her interests lie at the intersection of environment, social justice, education, and policy. She will be pursuing a master’s degree in Environment and Sustainability Management at Georgetown University during the 22-23 academic year.

John Blossom lives in Waimea and is the author of a climate change memoir, Trespassing, and six other books available on JTBlossom.com. His 2023 release, The Last Football Player, is a middle-grade novel about the dangers and promises of technology that won numerous awards including the 2024 IndieReaders Discovery Award for Sports, AWA's Sports Book of the Year Award Runner-up, as well as a rare starred review from Blue Ink Reviews. 

In his newest release, Mahina Rises, Mr. Blossom tells the fictional tale of a Hawaiian teenager who finds a way to fight climate change through her family’s mystical power of dreaming. Described as middle-grade Murukami, Mahina Rises sends a heartfelt message of aloha for the healing of our planet. It has been awarded an Editor's Pick designation from BookLife (Publishers' Weekly).

Planetary Health Practitioner

Committed educator with a career spent connecting people to the natural world and helping teachers get their kids outside to learn.

Lover of wild spaces and an active outdoor adventurer.

Student of nature journaling...and much more.

After visiting the Mexican overwintering colonies with Dr. Bill Calvert in March 2003, Susan began volunteering with Monarchs Across Georgia (MAG), a committee of the Environmental Education Alliance. She facilitates educator workshops using the Monarchs & More curriculum and incorporates the citizen science projects of MLMP, Journey North tracking, Monarch Watch tagging and Waystations, and Project Monarch Health. She administered MAG's Pollinator Habitat Restoration Grants (2012-2020) through FWS' Partners in Fish & Wildlife Program. She was honored with a Conservation Partner Award for her work with monarchs at the 2015-16 Southeast Regional Director's Honor Awards Ceremony. Organizing trips to the Mexican overwintering colonies since 2004, she initiated the Mexico Book Project, bringing books written in Spanish to schools near the sanctuaries. In 2018, Susan agreed to coordinate the Symbolic Monarch Migration, a project created by Journey North in 1996. Susan received her BS in Microbiology and MS in Environmental Science from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and Florida Institute of Technology respectively. She retired as an instructor from Stone Mountain Memorial Association where she taught K-12 students a variety of science-based lessons from geology to life cycles. Susan is also a Georgia Master Gardener and Master Naturalist, and a certified Pollinator Steward with the Pollinator Partnership.