The Friends of The New Jersey School of Conservation are thrilled to welcome our newest Enivronmental Education Coordinator, Allyson Lance!
Allyson is a skilled educator and environmentalist who discovered her passion for conservation in college at Miami University (Ohio). She was an active member of many conservation and wildlife focused clubs, which exposed her to the conservation field. While at Miami, she traveled to streams to look for salamanders and volunteered at a wildlife sanctuary where she helped take care of wolves, bears, and birds of prey.
After graduating in 2018 with her B.A. in Zoology and Environmental Science, Allyson discovered her passion for teaching through instructing at a ballroom dance studio. She spent a year and half instructing dance before deciding she missed the outdoors and accepted an environmental education position at Chincoteague Bay Field Station in Wallops Island, Va., and later an AmeriCorps position at the Huron-Manistee National Forests in northern Michigan.
In her free time, Allyson enjoys dancing, kayaking, crafting, and reading.
“The opportunity for children and community members to get outside and learn about the environment and the world around them is more important than ever before. Giving folks the opportunity to see for themselves what nature has to offer and how we must be good stewards of our resources is an important step in cultivating the minds of an environmentally conscious community. I am proud to be a part of the NJ SOC team carrying out this crucial educational effort.” said Allyson Lance.
We are excited to have Allyson on our team as we ramp up our environmental education programming for students, educators, and community members.
The NJSOC has provided 3- to 5-day resident environmental education programs for school groups throughout New Jersey for the last 50 years and is now restarting this critical programming as we move beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are proud to have served schools from 19 of the state’s 21 counties, some of whom have been attending for more than 40 years.
More recently, the NJSOC has started offering professional development trainings for teachers on subjects including Place-Based Education and Geo-Inquiry, Biodiversity, and more with plans to expand and cover Climate Change, Field-Based Inquiry, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Information about programming that is open to community members can be found here.
The NJSOC is excited to invite the public to our campus and engage them in best-in-class environmental education programs they may not have access to otherwise. From seasonal Wild Edibles Information Walks to Salamander Searches, there’s an outdoor activity for everyone to enjoy.