Lacey Huffling

What do you do?
While pursuing my EE certification, I was a high school science teacher and then transitioned to full-time doctoral studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I graduated this summer, and I am starting a new position as an Assistant Professor of Teaching and Learning at Georgia Southern University. As an educator, I incorporate EE into each class I teach. As a researcher, I am interested in how students begin to see themselves as "environmental" people.

What was your favorite part of earning your certification?
My favorite part of the certification process was the Community Partnership Project. I enjoyed being able to find a community need and then identify strategies that helped move the community towards a solution.

What certification experience stands out for you?
The certification experience that stands out for me is Criteria II: Outdoor Experiences. Not being originally from North Carolina, this requirement enabled me to experience habitats outside of those that were familiar to me. It also helped me relate information to my students, and it led to me being able to take my university students on field experiences.

What was your community partnership project and how did it affect the community?
For my community partnership project, I developed and led an EE professional development workshop for pre-service secondary teachers from universities in the Piedmont area and local classroom teachers. My project addressed the need for EE professional development for pre-service secondary teachers, particularly incorporating citizen science lessons into the classroom. I partnered with Elon University, NC A&T, the National Park Service, and the Ornithology Lab at Cornell University. The participants learned how to select a citizen science project, how to set up the selected project, how to incorporate the project into the required curriculum, and how to infuse technology into the process. The local community was affected because high school students will have the opportunity to contribute to authentic scientific research, and local teachers have been further trained to infuse EE into the curriculum.