Introducing David Macander, Southern AEOE 2006 Environmental Educator of the Year

Below is his nomination, submitted by Debbie Carraway

It is my honor to introduce AEOE’s southern region Environmental Educator of the Year, David Macander.  David has worked in California outdoor schools for the past twelve years.  He got his start as an intern at Camp Fox in San Diego.  Later he spent six years with LACOSS at Colby Ranch, where he was made Lead Naturalist on the basis of his enthusiasm and professionalism.  At that same time, he spent three summers at the Clem Miller Education Center in Point Reyes.  He is now in his fifth year as a Trail Teacher at Long Beach Unified School District’s Hi Hill Outdoor School.

David and Sierra
David shown accepting his award - quite appropriately is literally balancing the needs of family and career, with daughter Sierra in one arm, and his Environmental Educator of the Year Award in the other!

David has an outstanding work ethic and is constantly striving to improve the program he is working for.  At Hi Hill, David has taken on many projects, all worthy of mention, with the goal of improving the outdoor education experience for everyone involved. His greatest accomplishment by far, however, and the one I’d like to focus on here, has been his recent creation of a forty-page scientific journal for use by every Long Beach fifth grader.

Until this school year, Hi Hill was operating without the use of a student journal.  When David first determined that a journal was something he really wanted to see added to the program, school leadership opposed the idea.  Convinced that it would be a positive change for the outdoor school, David went ahead, spending dozens of hours of his own time into creating a site-specific Hi Hill journal.  A short time later, there was a change in school leadership, and the journal discussion began again.  Somehow, David’s draft journal caught the attention of the Assistant Superintendent of the school district, who was highly supportive of the idea, as was the new principal, so David spent all of last year sharing his journal and getting feedback from trail teachers and classroom teachers.  Still, before the journal could be implemented, it had to receive the official stamp of approval from the school district—a long and involved process.  It surprised everyone at the outdoor school by coming back with only two small suggestions for revision and many words of praise from the curriculum coach in Long Beach.  Over the summer, two thousand copies were printed.  Every Hi Hill student now receives a copy of David’s journal upon their arrival.  Final revisions will be made this winter after a test run, and the journal will likely be a part of the Hi Hill experience for all future participants. 

What’s more is that the implementation of the journal, has led to more innovative teaching all around.  During a staff development day this fall, David led a session for the other teachers on how to best use the journal.  This led to discussion about, and later creation of, several scientific experiments that all trail groups could perform during the week.  These changes will positively affect thousands of Long Beach fifth graders for years to come.

In short, David is a man of vision who works tirelessly and against all odds toward an ideal.  Through it all, he remains a dedicated family man who has somehow learned to make time for his wife and two kids in combination with the rigorous outdoor school schedule.  He is a credit to the outdoor education field and well deserving of this honor.

Debbie Carraway