Our Educators

"I was so impressed with all of the educators, with their rapport with the students, with their experience and ability to help everyone have a fun and successful time hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains. All of the students insisted their leader was ‘the best!’” — Lynne R. Hall, Administrative Coordinator, School on Wheels, Inc.

The best in their field

Our staff of highly skilled field educators is key to the success of NatureBridge. Equipped with a wealth of experience, education, and training, our educators change lives by creating dynamic programs that foster connections in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Who are they? 

Our field science educators have years of teaching experience in outdoor and environmental education programs and a contagious enthusiasm for exploring the natural world.

All of our educators have:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher
• Wilderness First Responder certification
• Passion about teaching,youth and the environment

Many of our educators:

• Have traveled or lived abroad, sometimes volunteering for organizations or studying foreign languages
• Have worked as national park rangers or as certified classroom teachers
• Currently serve as educators, musicians, photographers, philosophers, poets, birders, artists, athletes, and more

Educator Spotlight - Cait McHugh

"I teach in the Santa Monica Mountains and Channel Islands for the whale sightings, for the ceanothus blooms, for the ping pelicans, for the vistas from mountaintops … I teach with NatureBridge for all the moments when I don’t have to tell any of my students why what they are seeing is so amazing; we all just know."— Cait McHugh

Cait, a Nashville, Tennessee, native, has been drawn to the natural world since her childhood. She has always known that she wanted to spend her professional life outdoors, but it was not until her first environmental education job at the Warner Park Nature Center that she realized she could merge her passion for youth and nature. Since then, Cait has continued to pursue environmental instructing opportunities with organizations like Audubon New Mexico, the Nashville City Government, and the Sound to Sea Environmental Education program in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Cait McHugh earned her bachelor's degree at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where she majored in Environmental Studies and English and carried out a senior capstone project on the use of children’s literature in contemporary environmental education. While still at school, she assisted in various teaching and outreach projects in the area, her favorite of which was helping to design a Title I after-school enrichment program for the local sixth grade school.