Leonore Enfield is a 7th and 8th grade science teacher at Lyons Middle School in Lyons, Kansas. She is a member of the 2021-2023 KACEE Board of Directors, a longtime friend of KACEE, and a KACEE Community Member at the Educator level. Leonore is passionate about helping students cultivate a love for the outdoors.
Leonore has always been an educator, albeit in an informal sense: teaching classes through the local co-op or creating outdoor summer camps on a whim - like the summer she held 'chemistry camp' for Kindergarten-8th graders in her friend's yard - conducting chemistry experiments outdoors. She simply loves working with kids, and she loves engaging them in learning, especially outdoor learning.
“Any day I can take a kid on a field trip is a good day” - Leonore
When Leonore went back to school at Sterling College in 2009 to earn her Biology degree, she happened upon the Kansas Association for Conservation & Environmental Education; One of her professors mentioned KACEE's annual conference, and although Leonore was not a formal educator at the time, she knew she was very much interested in learning more about the organization. She attended the conference, made fast friends with several Board members, and was eager to lend her time to helping KACEE wherever and whenever she could.
At her first Kansas Environmental Education Conference, Leonore won a raffle at the conference (the first time she'd ever won anything) for free attendance to the following year's conference. She attended the 2010 conference, cementing her conviction that environmental education was where she wanted to be. She continued to help KACEE wherever possible - event planning & logistics, and any committee she could get in on. Over the years, Leonore become more familiar with all that KACEE had to offer. She began attending EE Professional Development workshops, learning all she could about teaching kids environmental education.
She began attending EE Professional Development workshops, learning all she could about teaching kids environmental education.
Leonore went on to earn her Master’s degree in Environmental Science; she taught Environmental Science at Barton Community College for a semester, but realized it was too late to reach them the way she had hoped to. The experience teaching college students made it clear to that she wanted to do more; inspire kids to develop a love for the outdoors. To do that, she needed to reach kids earlier. At the advice of KACEE's Executive Director, Laura Downey, Leonore decided to again go back to school; this time to get her teaching certificate.
In 2015, she again attended the conference; this time as a formal educator.
Leonore has learned something new each time she has attended KACEE's annual conference. In 2015 she attended a session on a program called WILD Kansas. In her words, "I was in!" She fell in love with the concept of WILD Kansas, knowing right away that she wanted to implement the program where she was now teaching - Stafford Middle and High School in Stafford, Kansas.
She fell in love with the concept of WILD Kansas, knowing right away that she wanted to implement the program where she was now teaching
These days, Leonore works at Lyons Middle School, where she is currently advocating for the creation of a middle school/high school WILD Kansas collaborative program, a school garden and greenhouse, and outdoor classroom with help from KACEE's eeGuidance for Creating Outdoor Classrooms (attached below). She has integrated Project Learning Tree (PLT), Project WET, Project WILD into her classroom to help her teach environmental education (EE) to her students. She gained the skills to teach EE through attending KACEE's workshops, and now she uses each activity guide (PLT, WET, and WILD) year after year. Leonore loves tangible, hands-on education, which is a big part of why she is such an enthusiastic advocate for the kind of environmental education professional development KACEE provides her.
Leonore loves tangible, hands-on education, which is a big part of why she is such an enthusiastic advocate for the kind of environmental education professional development KACEE provides her.
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