10 Questions with New Board Member Jennifer Hubbard-Sánchez

Former KAEE Board Chair Jennifer Hubbard-Sánchez is back on our board, and we couldn't be happier about that! Keep reading to learn more about her!

1. What is your current position? Superintendent of Natural Areas for Lexington Parks and Recreation

2. What fictional place would you most like to visit? Aztlán

3. If you could be any animal, what would you be? Andean Condor

4. What is your favorite place to visit in Kentucky? Zilpo Campground (one specific site that shall not be mentioned for fear of everyone reserving it!)

5. Who would you most like to swap places with for a day? My mom to see myself through her eyes and to experience her life as she lives it.

6. If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? I would have a beautiful voice. I love to sing but I am tone deaf, so people who hear me sing usually suffer through it…

7. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Periwinkle

8. What is one hobby you’d love to get into? Watercolor painting. Besides being an awful singer, I am also not a great artist.

9. What are you looking forward to this fall? Hiking in cooler temperatures and “sweater weather.”

10. What most excites you about being a KAEE board member? The camaraderie of the board and working together to do good work for and with the organization.

Take Me Outside Day 2022

Are you in to get out?

Take Me Outside is a non-profit organization committed to raising awareness and facilitating action on nature connection and outdoor learning in schools across Turtle Island (North America).

Last year, Take Me Outside Day had 8,900 educators and 400,000 learners participate in a week of events, activities and featured speakers. Please join the collective effort to extend the learning environment beyond four walls and a desk! Commit to spending one hour outside on October 19 (or sometime that week), and get access to our speakers, events and awesome prizes. Register now!

Looking for more of a challenge? Commit to a full year of outdoor learning (once a week) by also registering for the Take Me Outside for Learning Challenge. Take Me Outside will provide resources, professional development opportunities, activities, and a growing community of committed educators!

Learn more and register for free at takemeoutside.ca/tmoday/.

10 Questions with New Board Member Jennifer Beach

We're delighted that Jennifer Beach, who previously served as a member of our Board of Directors at KAEE, has rejoined the board this fall! Read on to get to know a bit about her.

1. What is your current position? School Outreach Programmer, Kenton County Public Library (where I've been for 33.5 years now!)

2. What fictional place would you most like to visit? There are so many real places I would like to visit! Probably the universe of the A Wrinkle In Time book series. It's not a single place so much as a way of existing in the universe. Charles Wallace and those who help him visit many magnificent (sometimes terrifying) places (and times!) and encounter amazing and beautiful things and beings (a time-traveling unicorn!) which are significant beyond their own experience. I guess that's a little esoteric. The world of Peter Rabbit would be fun, too, but the actual place it's based on isn't imaginary!

3. If you could be any animal, what would you be? I think I would be a sea otter. Or maybe a humpback whale. I love being in the water. They live joyfully and playfully, form close family and community bonds, and otters sleep holding hands! And they are very important to their ecosystems. This is hard; there are so many!

4. What is your favorite place to visit in Kentucky? All of them. There are so many different and beautiful places to see in Kentucky! I love the mountains, the lakes, the rivers, the forests....I guess I would have to say Daniel Boone National Forest is my favorite. I love being in the woods and in the mountains. I love the views, the smell, the sounds. But I also love to visit historic sites of all kinds.

5. Who would you most like to swap places with for a day? I can't say that I've ever really thought about this. Maybe my younger self. We both could learn a lot.

6. If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? Flight or breathing underwater; it's a toss-up. Either would allow me to go to astounding places and see things I otherwise would never be able to see. And both would allow much faster travel.

7. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Green. Any shade of green except maybe chartreuse. I like chartreuse, but other people get tired of it. A nice Forest Green would be fantastic.

8. What is one hobby you’d love to get into? I'm currently learning to needle felt. It's creative, works with natural materials, only limited by imagination...and the stabbing is very therapeutic. :) I'd love to learn to knit, but issues with my hands haven't allowed it when I have tried in the past.

9. What are you looking forward to this fall? I'm most looking forward to the fall weather! I love September and October-the colors, the crisp air, the clear blue skies! I love all the festive outdoor stuff to do! And I love everything pumpkin spice. I'm that person. I own it. And I'm really looking forward to the KAEE Conference, IN PERSON!

10. What most excites you about being a KAEE board member? The most exciting thing about being a KAEE board member is the opportunity to be directly involved in something that makes a difference far beyond myself. It is exciting to meet and work with passionate people working to make the world better. It is exciting to do work I believe in, and to share everything I love about nature and the outdoors with others.