Hey everyone, My name is Grace Evans. I am a senior at Ipswich High School and I am the new Seasonal Environmental Education Apprentice. I was so excited for this opportunity I decided to spent the months of April and May volunteering 22 hour a week prior to the position. I have grown up a stone’s throw away from the river itself and a 5 minute bike ride from the Ipswich River Watershed Association headquarters. Childhood excursions took place on the sloping banks of the river with the occasional accidental winter dip. The Ipswich River has always been on my mind from my mother’s constant encouragement of their advocacy to my brother volunteering before me. I will be pursuing an environmental science degree in a college at Colorado College and working at Ipswich River has been the perfect introduction to the field. Most days when I leave work it’s only moments before I return to go for a paddle with friends or walk the trails in search for wildlife. I have been a lover of the outdoors since hiking trips perched on my father’s backpack. I became interested in conservation after I won a trip to Costa Rica with my school that finished with an environmental summit with students from around the world. I was inspired by speakers such as Jane Goodall and Severn Suzuki. Since then I have headed the Environmental Club at my school, worked to spread knowledge about conservation at Climate Cafes, and became a sustainable scholar. I have worked to educate children about the river throughout high school by visiting local elementary schools and trying to increase postage about dog waste. I have helped with waterfowl surveys and herring counts through Ipswich River and have a love for marine animals
My role at Ipswich River is to organize educational programs with local student camps and groups. Our goal is to get children outside and on the River and realize their connection to it. I will be working on formulating lesson plans that are fun and engaging that will make youth want to help protect the river. We will host groups at Riverbend as well as traveling to other areas to make this program as accessible as possible. I believe that it is important to reach people when they are young so they can develop a love for the earth and want to protect it early on which becomes second nature as they grow up. I have worked as a ski instructor for the last four years and enjoy seeing the passion children have for the outdoors. This will be the same the moment each kid sees their first turtle on the river.
I look forward to this summer and spending as much time I can sharing the beauty of the river with other people. Hope to see you on the water!