Monday Evening Panel

This year's evening panel will feature community groups working to improve social, economic, and ecological systems and the opportunities they offer for authentic student involvement. The panelists will share their work and discuss the challenges and benefits of engaging with schools.

Moderator

John Haskin, Education Director, IslandWood

Panelists

Moses Odhiambo, Volunteer Team Member, Earth Corps

Moses Odhiambo Abonga is 25 years old and holds a Bachelors Degree in Wildlife Science from Moi University, Kenya. He works with EarthCorps a Seattle based non-profit, whose mission is building global community through local environmental restoration. Moses is on the EarthCorps Volunteer Team (ECV), and runs environmental events every Saturday with volunteers. He also organizes outdoor environmental lessons with students from different school and backgrounds. Moses’ goal is to go back to Kenya with a wealth of knowledge that he will be able to use in uplifting the education and environmental issues in his city, Kisumu.

Elizabeth White, Program Manager, Earth Corps

In 2009, Elizabeth became the Program Manager for ECV, a 10 month long EarthCorps program designed to teach its participants the skills needed to lead volunteers of all ages in environmental restoration projects. She is also a Project Manager for the EarthCorps Volunteer Program. In this role, Elizabeth has planned and led over 300 forest restoration projects for volunteers, ranging in size from 10 to 400 volunteers per project. She also designs forest restoration projects for youth, working with many classrooms in the Seattle area to get students outside and learning in nature. Her passion for this work comes from a desire to connect people to the green places around them, to help them see value in every day nature, and to empower them to steward our common natural places. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in English.

Tom Tidyman II, M.S. Childcare Director, Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club

Tom Tidyman is the Childcare Director at the Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club in South Seattle. A transplant from Florida, Tom received his Master’s in Ecology from the University of Florida and taught middle school science in Gainesville after college. Tom has worked for local, state and federal governments in addition to the non-profit sector focusing on parks, recreation and environmental affairs.

Edward Hill, Director, Creatives4Community

Edward B. Hill, a Northwest-based green educator and workforce development specialist, runs a mobile academy focusing on building racially/socially/economically equitable training models that provide low-income, marginalized, and immigrant populations opportunities to become self-sufficient in the green movement.Hill, an urban farmer, an urban planner, teacher, visual artist, parent, and community capacity builder and consultant for Will Allen’s Growing Power, also serves in the Seattle Good Food Network, Kellogg Food & Fitness Initiative, GFGJI: Growing Food-Growing Justice Initiative, and the Central Area Displacement Coalition.

Stacy Noland, Founder & CEO, Moontown Foundation

Stacy Noland is a recognized thought leader and the founder of the Moontown Foundation, an award winning non-profit think tank dedicated to accelerating the transformation to a green economy by advocating for legislative policies and programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, spur economic development and create green jobs in Washington State. For over 20 years, Stacy has worked to promote environmental, social and economic sustainability by removing institutionalized barriers that prevent historically underrepresented individuals from successfully pursuing careers in resource conservation management and Ecopreneurship. Stacy currently serves on the boards for the Northwest Energy Coalition, the Seattle Chamber's Urban Enterprise Center, and Evergreen Films. He holds degrees in Psychology from the University of Montevallo and the University of Washington.