“I am working with a sophomore right now who is struggling at school, and I had yet to hear him say more than a few words in our class,” says Kat Robbins. “We visited our school’s undeveloped 4.5-acre forest and he lit up! The possibility of developing that resource as an outdoor classroom lit a fire under him! So, I’ve been meeting with him in his free blocks to plan out how we might achieve our goals. He has called the Town Planner, written a letter to abutting landowners, and researched building codes. He is (mostly!) getting his other schoolwork done so that he has time to work on this project, and he’s not even getting credit for it yet. We need students who are truly engaged, even if it’s in really out of the box ways.”
Kat is the Partnership Coordinator between Woodstock Union High School and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, and this month we are taking a look at how she supports place based environmental education (PBEE) in Woodstock and surrounding towns with her unique position. Our hope is that Kat’s work—and this partnership between the National Park Serviceand Woodstock Union High School—will inspire you to consider ways you can develop positions that can support PBEE in your community.
Kat Robbins
Kat’s position, funded at 60% by the National Park Service, and 40% with local school dollars, is a Cooperative Agreement between the National Park Service and Windsor Central Supervisory Union (WCSU). She took on this role in 2011.
In a typical day, Kat will:
Support teachers and students to connect with resources in their community to enhance their learning.
Work with teachers/students on discrete units of learning (like the AP Environmental Science class watershed exploration), both with direct instruction/support in the classroom but also behind the scenes work
Co-teach some semester long elective classes like Wilderness Studies and Food Systems
Advise the National Honor Society and the student environmental club, Earth Beat
Manage the school garden and cafeteria relationship
Support C3, or the Center of Community Connections program, which is the Flexible Pathway program that allows students to access Independent Studies, Internships, Service Learning, and Career Exploration, and online learning opportunities
Coordinate the Internship Program at Marsh-Billings & Saint Gaudens
Facilitate a leadership development curriculum and extended learning for all park interns while directly supervising several interns
Help identify and facilitate work projects for the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and Student Conservation Association crews that work at the national parks
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