KAEE Member Feature: Ellen Prusinski

KAEE recently welcomed new member Ellen Prusinski. Ellen is the coordinator of engaged and experiential learning and assistant professor of education at Centre College in Danville. Read on to learn more about her interest in integrating EE and community learning and to find a really fun fact at the end!

KAEE: What projects or programs are you working on that particularly inspire you?

Ellen: This semester, I’m teaching Global Perspectives on Education, which is one of my favorite classes to teach in part because it is a great excuse for me to engage with new material.

KAEE: What goals do you have for your organization or programs within the EE field?

Ellen: I hope that we can find new ways of helping Centre students integrate learning about the environment into whatever discipline or field they are studying, whether that is English or Anthropology or Physics.

KAEE: What is an area you feel you could use support in from this network of fellow educators?

Ellen: I am still really new to this field, so I could probably use support in a lot of different areas! Right now, I am prioritizing a focus on how to help encourage students who feel discouraged and fearful about climate change.

KAEE: What is something you feel could be beneficial to share with this network?

Ellen: I lived in Asia for four years after college and love to think about how the U.S. could learn from the experiences of other countries that approach issues of environmental education from different angles. If this is of interest to anyone, I’d be glad to chat.

KAEE: Share a fun fact or random tidbit about yourself with the group!

Ellen: My 4-year-old and I learned to ride a tandem bike last spring. If you see us tooling around Lexington, please say hi!

KAEE Member Feature: Elizabeth Jones

Headwaters is a nonprofit organization working to improve water quality and increase environmental literacy in Letcher County. Our mission is to engage and educate members of our community on local water quality issues and concerns. With local, state, and federal partners, we are introducing best management practices to abate NPS (nonpoint source pollution), such as riparian buffers, rain gardens, and septic workshops. Headwaters, Inc. encourages stewardship of local waterways by helping recruit community scientists for Watershed Watch in Kentucky stream water sampling.

1). What organization are you with and what is your current role there?

My name is Elizabeth Jones and I am the Watershed Coordinator for Headwaters Inc., a local nonprofit organization in (southeastern Appalachian) Letcher County Kentucky that focuses on educating our community on water quality issues and concerns.

2). What projects or programs are you working on that particularly inspire you? Through funding received from the 319 (h) Clean Water Act, Headwaters worked with partners such as Watershed Watch, KDOW, EKU, UK and many others to complete a watershed plan to address nonpoint source pollution in 3 specific tributaries of our North Fork: Kentucky River which flows through Whitesburg Kentucky. Through research, sample collection, community feedback and other resources, an outline was developed to help guide solutions and best management practices for the water quality issues that are identified in that plan.

The written plan was completed earlier this year and we are now working with one of our local elementary schools, West Whitesburg Elementary School, where we are almost ready to start a Riparian Buffer demonstration project that will be directly behind the school on the bank of the North Fork: Kentucky River and a Rain Barrel demonstration project that will apply guttering to an existing outside classroom space to educate on how gutters guide stormwater.

3). What goals do you have for your organization or programs within the EE field?

I am working with EKU and their Natural Areas program directors to include Lilley Cornett Woods into our educational plan this year with WWE. We are also working with our local 4-H chapter and will include our Project Wet and other environmental education training in our activity development. My main goal as Watershed Coordinator for our organization is to focus on increasing environmental literacy in this area.

4). What is an area you feel you could use support in from this network of fellow educators?

I could use support in learning how to introduce environmental education to adults, not just children.

5). What is something you feel could be beneficial to share with this network?

One of my personal observations is that many people appear to be intimidated by the use of language that is not familiar to them and when we lose their interest, we may not get another chance. So, I believe that a compromise is needed. We need to work on increasing basic EE vocabulary and focus on including that terminology in our lesson plans, but also as a professional, I need to also consider my audience and even adults can be overwhelmed with a bunch of language that they do not understand. As an example, most people do not know what a Riparian Buffer is and I have noticed that even when speaking with a state representative, they can be turned off very quickly if I am using words that are not familiar.

6). Share one fun fact or random tidbit about you would you like to share with the group!

​One random tidbit about myself is that I like to sing gospel music. I have belonged to a church and been a part of their Praise Team for 10 years where we sing songs out of the red backed Hymnal and that experience allowed me to develop amazing relationships in my community and in that church. It also gave me the courage and strength to go back to school which led to a great boost in self-confidence and self-worth. I now have a Masters Degree and a job that I love that is greatly rewarding. It all changed my life.

KAEE Member Feature: Alice Hilton

KAEE recently welcomed new member Alice Hilton! Alice is part of Lexington's Public Information and Engagement team housed within the city's Department of Environmental Quality & Public Works. Her team works to preserve, protect, and enhance the city's environment by educating the public about the need and benefits of creating a healthy and sustainable quality of life for our community.

In the far right picture above, Alice is leading a public outreach activity to educate kids about the importance of maintaining healthy sanitary sewers with a fun activity - turning toilet paper into truly flushable wipes!

Learn how to make your own "TP Spray" as a replacement for flushable wipes (Did you know flushable wipes aren't really flushable?!). Scroll down or click to find ALICE'S SUPER TP SPRAY RECIPE and keep reading to learn more about Alice!

1). Where do you work and what is your current role?

I serve as the Community Outreach Liaison for the Public Information and Engagement team in Lexington’s Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works.

2). What projects or programs are you working on that particularly inspire you?

Our team is currently building partnerships with community centers, libraries, and other community-based groups to provide youth programming, with a focus on developing and supporting place-based learning initiatives and environmental career exploration.

3). What goals do you have for your organization or programs within the EE field?

I look forward to continuing to work towards programming that is deeply embedded in and responsive to community needs, as well as striving to be inclusive of and accessible to all the different people and groups in Lexington.

4). What is an area you feel you could use support in from this network of fellow educators?

I always need support in pushing myself in how to think about and engage with active antiracism, equity, and inclusion efforts in the field of environmental education and beyond.

5). What is something you feel could be beneficial to share with this network?

I’m sure many have already seen it, but I found Angela Park’sCentering Equity in EE’s COVID Response webinar to be extremely helpful in asking challenging questions and demanding both self- and organizational-level reflection.

6). Share one fun fact or random tidbit about you would you like to share with the group!

Our household is getting three ducklings in mid-March! If anyone has tips on raising ducks, I’d love to hear them.