Storming the Sound

2026 Storming the Sound

Keynote: Storming the Sound is excited to welcome Chris Morgan to Storming the Sound this year!

Chris Morgan is a British-American bear ecologist, conservationist, filmmaker and podcaster. His stories from 6 continents have reached hundreds of millions of people worldwide as part of his mission to connect listeners to nature and to help conserve our beautiful planet. Known as ‘the bear guy’, Chris has tracked grizzlies for 2000 miles on foot, and produced several films on Bears.

His work has taken him to the world’s wildest places from the Arctic to Antarctic, and now through films and THE WILD podcast he is devoted to spreading the word about caring for planet earth. You can sit back and disappear into nature with Chris wherever you get your podcasts. They’re fun, enlightening, immersive, and a complete escape. Just search for ‘THE WILD with Chris Morgan’. Chris co-founded the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (now Western Wildlife Outreach) a community-based program promoting grizzly bear conservation in Washington’s North Cascades. This is made possible through WILDLIFEMEDIA.org and Jill and Scott Walker!

Agenda Overview

Detailed session information is listed below

8:30                     Doors Open

9:00-9:15            Welcome – Phil Tarro Theatre

9:15-10:15           Keynote: Chris Morgan

10:30-11:40        Session 1

11:50-12:20        Lunch – Cardinal Center

A small group has offered to host a Sing-Along during lunch at the Conference to highlight songs that address environmental education. Warm up your voice and bring a guitar or ukulele. If time allows, you can share your favorite song, too.

12:20-12:50        Poster Session – Cardinal Center

1:00-2:10             Session 2

2:25-3:35             Session 3

3:45-4:30             Endnote – Phil Tarro Theatre

4:30                        Cleanup

For a downloadable version of the Breakout Sessions, click here.

Session 1  10:30-11:40

Hands-on Activities: Sensing of Nature, Holli Warne, Multipurpose Room

Holli Watne has been leading a Wilderness Awareness program for Fiddlehead Montessori School since 2019.  For this program, she has designed many activities that are designed to engage children in connecting to nature using all of their senses. In this session she will share some of her favorites by guiding you through them. There will be 4 activities that involve moving your body and using your senses and a short debrief after each.  Be prepared to spend part of the session outside (weather permitting).

Fire in the Air We Breathe, Lisa Hayward, University of Washington, and Crystal Perez, Duwamish Valley Youth Corps, F102

This session would be an interactive demonstration of an activity designed to teach high school students how to build their family’s resilience to wildfire smoke. It involved using portable air quality monitors to measure the impacts on air quality of burning palo santo and running a low cost air cleaner. This activity was developed with support from the National Science Foundation as part of a grant to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill titled “Youth Engaging in the Science of Resilience.” It is intended to be included as part of “informal education” in museums or after school/ weekend programs for youth. Along with the demonstration is a short slideshow on what wildfire smoke is and how it affects the body.

Thinking Like an Explorer: Using Nature Journaling to Connect with the World, Sabrina Shaw L124

This hand-on session explores how nature journaling can serve as an accessible, research-based practice to help learners observe closely, ask meaningful questions, document patterns, and connect emotionally with the natural world. Participants will create their own nature journal one-pagers that highlight an environmental issue, solution or idea.  Bring your curiosity and creativity, all art and nature journaling materials will be provided.

Exploring Students’ Understanding and Perspectives of Place: The Case of Place in a Skagit Valley School, David Strich L126

This will be a presentation that shares about the dissertation of the same name. There may be a short walk outdoors included in this session to help participants understand how the research was conducted. Drawing upon notions of Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic and Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Becoming Naturalized to Place, this dissertation explored how students revealed their perspectives and understandings of place at their school in the Skagit Valley, Washington State. This study contributes to the current research on Place and Environmental Education, recognizing that there are distinctions between “place” and “environment” that may be subconsciously but interchangeably considered. This study employed an ethnographic case study approach guided by phenomenographic principles and informed by Indigenous perspectives to document students’ stories of place.

Equitable Salmon Education in the North Sound, Nathan Zabel, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association and Lucy DeGrace, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group L128

Join educators from non-profit organizations in the North Sound region focused on outdoor place-based salmon education to learn how they have incorporated equitable, multi-sensory teaching practices into education programming. This session will feature hands-on participation in content developed to support multi-language learners, students with disabilities, students from underserved communities, and showcase how collaborative approaches to education can ensure student needs are being met. You will leave this session with resources you can incorporate in your indoor or outdoor classroom, along with pathways to collaborate with partners in your district or community.

The Creepy and Crawly as Support Animals, Peter Geissler, Wildscales Discovery L227

Over the last two years I have had the opportunity to work with animals not typically thought of as good candidates for support programs – snakes and tarantulas. Combining our findings working with a local middle school and modern research we are finding new ways my unusual colleagues help develop social skills in students as well as build empathy for their environments.

Supporting Eco-Social Justice learning with Indigenous youth on Xw-ts’ayem-em: Experiences from WWU EE Spring Block 2025 students, Serena Nebert, Piper McKibben, Yakira Colin, WWU College of the Environment L311

How can we navigate teaching with, for, and about the environment with members of a culture that is present here and has been since time immemorial? Last spring, as undergraduate environmental ed students, our Spring Block EE program continued its partnership with Whiteswan Environmental and Whatcom Intergenerational High School to help provide a week-long inter-cultural learning experience called Learning From the Homelands Language Camp for their youth. It took place on Xw-ts’ayem-em, aka Johns Island, with Camp Nor’wester offering their facilities, and WE and WIHS Indigenous leaders playing the prominent roles. We offer settler students’ observations of teaching / learning where the point is to center Indigenous voices, culture, land, and language for youth who do not usually get to experience those. Our own offerings — modest lessons on the beach; about the little brown bat; and cycles and circles – illustrate how we tried to weave knowledges with members of that culture, attempting to respect First People’s Principles of Learning.  While we cannot represent our students’ experiences, we can speak to our own learning about relationality, language, humility, culture, ritual, food, gratitude, and Land, and the lessons we hope to carry forward in education and eco-social justice.

Session 2 1:00-2:10

Projects to Purpose: Project-based learning to inspire environmental action, Emogene Shaw, Joshua Monger, William Monger, Kaia Knight, Students in the Sky Valley Environmental Studies School, Multipurpose Room

Grosvenor Teacher Fellow Sabrina Shaw and her Environmental Studies School students will share the activities and resources they are using to examine the health of the Puget Sound. Students will highlight their microplastics work and lead participants through hands-on community science activities and data-collection protocols to investigate and understand issues facing the Salish Sea.

Picture Book Cafe – Using Picture Books in Nature and Environmental Education, Natasha Zimmers, Sky Valley Education Center (Monroe SD), F102

Join picture book author and teacher, Natasha Zimmers for a Picture Book Café – Taste a wide variety of recently published fiction and nonfiction picture books, and explore ways they could be used from Kindergarten through high school to ignite curiosity about nature and environmental studies.

It Takes A Village: Inspiring Island Stewardship & Wildlife Conservation, Hadley Beahan, Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and Kenzie Holland- KWIÁHT, L124

Wildlife conservation is essential for the resilience of ecosystems, the security of communities, and the future of biodiversity. By collaborating and working together, we can build a future where both people and wildlife don’t just survive, but thrive. Hadley Beahan (Wolf Hollow) and Kenzie Holland (Kwiaht) will discuss collaborative efforts between two community oriented, conservation-focused non-profits in the San Juan islands. Join them for a presentation on wildlife coexistence conundrums and ongoing research in the San Juans through the lens of wildlife rehab patient stories, descriptions of hands-on efforts, and potential future programs.

Inventive Uses for Invasive Plants: Engaging Students in Creative Stewardship, Brooke Ahlegian-Pressly, Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation L126

How can we transform the challenge of invasive plants into a hands-on opportunity for creativity, learning, and stewardship? In this session, Brooke Ahlegian-Pressly (author of Inventive Uses for Invasive Plants) introduces a fresh approach that turns environmental problems into teachable moments for the classroom and the outdoors. Educators will discover how to guide students in recognizing the ecological impacts of invasive species while also exploring innovative ways to put these plants to use. We will focus on projects that can be done with abundant local invasive species, highlighting activities that blend science, art, and place-based learning. Participants will leave with adaptable, ready-to-implement ideas that align with standards, spark student curiosity, and encourage learners to see themselves as active stewards of their environment. Whether in a classroom, nature center, or afterschool program, these inventive approaches provide practical pathways for connecting students more deeply with the ecosystems around them.

People Styles at Work… Outdoors: Interpersonal Leadership for Field Educators, Megan Carter, North Cascades Institute, L128

Field educators regularly navigate high-stakes interpersonal dynamics—instructors with different working styles, chaperones under stress, students with competing needs, and partner agencies with their own priorities. This session introduces the People Styles at Work interpersonal model (Driver, Analytical, Expressive, Amiable) and explores how each style shows up in outdoor learning spaces.

Participants will identify their own style, practice recognizing others’ styles in the field, and learn strategies to “flex” under pressure. Through scenarios drawn from outdoor education, we’ll explore how to prevent friction, communicate with more clarity and compassion, and strengthen team culture. You’ll walk away with tools you can use immediately in staff training, trip leadership, and group facilitation.

Light 4 Village Solar Kit, Claver Hategekimana, Skagit Valley College, L227

I will demonstrate the Light 4 Village solar kit. This system provides sufficient lighting for a small household and can charge cell phones, power small radios, and support laptop use. In rural Africa, it can also serve as an income-generating solution by enabling users to charge cellphone phones or other rechargeable devices for a small fee.The kit is affordable and requires minimal maintenance. Its design is guided by three core principles: meeting end-user needs, efficiency, and ease of installation and maintenance. Each summer, I lead a service-learning group to Rwanda, where this system has been installed in over 150 off-grid family homes.  www.light4village.com/

Re:wild Your Campus project, Tyson Kemper, University of Washington/Cascadia College Bothell,  Meet at registration for outdoor session.

Foster resilient, biodiverse, nurturing, chemical-free landscapes with insights from the Beauty Third mindset of the co-located campus of University of Washington Bothell and Cascadia College.

Session 3 2:25-3:35

Strum into Science & Stewardship, Quinn Fitzpatrick, Guitars and Ukuleles in the Classroom and Sean Howard, Bob Gillespie, Skagit Valley College, Multipurpose Room

Discover how ukulele and simple music strategies can energize environmental learning in this fun, hands-on workshop. Participants will explore accessible ways to use music to boost engagement,support SEL, strengthen classroom community, and make science and stewardship concepts more memorable. No musical experience needed—just curiosity and a willingness to strum and play. Leave with practical tools you can use in your EE programs right away.

Cultivating Cooperation: Facilitating Social Emotional Learning in Outdoor Settings, Erin Simmons and Mary Pat Sullivan, Warm Beach Camp Outdoor School F102

Outdoor learning is naturally social, dynamic, and full of teachable moments—and with the right facilitation moves, it becomes a powerful engine for both SEL and science learning. In this highly interactive session, participants will learn by doing through three experiential activities: a community-building name game, a joyful quick-silly energizer, and a science-rich group challenge drawn from classic adventure education (Rohnke, Project Adventure, WSU Extension). Together, we’ll unpack how these simple activities model Washington’s six SEL standards—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, social problem-solving, and identity—as well as the sensemaking habits at the heart of NGSS. Educators will walk away with practical facilitation tips, reflection prompts, and “theory drops” they can immediately apply to help students collaborate more effectively, build belonging, and engage in deeper scientific inquiry. Come ready to move, play, reflect, and leave with fresh tools for cultivating cooperation in any outdoor learning space.

Art in Nature; Reflections on Art and Science Camp. A Collaboration of the Padilla Bay Reserve and Museum of Northwest Art, L124

The Padilla Bay Reserve and Museum of Northwest Art have collaborated for the past several years to put on a weeklong Art and Science Camp. Come to this session to learn about how this collaboration came to be, ideas on how to combine art and science, and come prepared to be a camper yourself! We will be headed outside to do one of our favorite art and science activities. Dress for the weather, more than half of this session will take place outside.

Student Research Revealed- WWU’s Marine Science students are discovering and teaching, Mira Lutz, Saima Krouse, Sabina Guzek, and Ian McBride L126

Students from WWU’s undergraduate Marine and Coastal Science and graduate Marine and Estuarine Science programs will reveal the latest discoveries from their capstone and masters research then invite you to help generate new data to a multi-agency eelgrass restoration research collaboration, as well. Come learn, get salty, and offer your good work toward healing the estuaries we love through science.

Recorrido por el Río: Culturally Responsive Teaching in Outdoor Education, Lucy DeGrace, L128

Join educators from Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group, Vamos Outdoors, North Cascades Institute, and The Salish Sea School to learn how they are collaborating to incorporate culturally responsive approaches to outdoor education. This session will introduce Recorrido por el Río/River Journey, a pilot program designed to engage multi-language learners with the Skagit River Watershed and its salmon resources, and foster a sense of awareness and belonging in the outdoors.

Teaching Interconnectedness, Alex Krejci and David Paynter, Federal Way High School, L227

We want our students to not only learn about the environment, but to know and learn that they are part of the environment – the environment shapes us and we shape the environment – everything is connected. How can we foster this sense of connection, something deeper than intellectual knowledge? In this session, you will become the students as we model interactive lessons meant to foster a sense of connection to both the environment and to each other. From untangling webs to sensory explorations, we hope you are ready to interact with each other and the world around us. The lessons we model are newly developed by us at Federal Way High School, and we know there is a lot we can do to improve. So we end the session hearing your ideas about how to foster this sense of interconnectedness and sharing of your experience. We look forward to having you!