2026 EENC Annual Conference

2026 EENC Annual Conference

6:00pm EDT

Networking Social - EENC Celebrates 35 Conferences! Thomas G. Crowder Woodland Center, Lake Johnson Park

8:30am EDT

Coffee and Networking McKimmon - 2A Registration Desk Open Lobby

9:15am EDT

Welcome and Opening Remarks McKimmon - 2C

9:45am EDT

Big Learning, Little Boots: Successful Outdoor Education for Pre-K-2 Room 7BLauren Michel • Elizabeth Peacock • Kelly Wilson Mapping Environmental Stories: Using GIS to Build Immersive Virtual Field Trips for Environmental Education Room 8BBeth Saile How to Make a Custom Printable Field Guide for Your Programs Room 9Christine Goforth Immunoassay Investigations: What's Lurking In The Lake? Room 14Trent Stanforth More Walk, Less Talk: How a Japanese Immigrant Helped Create the Appalachian Trail and Great Smoky Mountains National Park Room 10David Huff

10:30am EDT

Silent Auction McKimmon - 2A

11:00am EDT

To Move Like a Mushroom: The Naturalist In An Apocalypse McKimmon - 2CMaria Pinto

12:15pm EDT

Lunch and EENC Annual Meeting McKimmon - 2C

1:30pm EDT

Affinity Group: BIPOC in EE Room 10 Affinity Group: LGBTQIA2S+ in EE Room 7B Affinity Group: Neurodivergent in EE Room 8B Professional Group: Classroom Teachers in EE Room 14 Professional Group: EE Program Leaders and Veterans McKimmon - 2C Professional Group: Young Professionals Under 30 in EE Room 9

2:30pm EDT

Wake Green Schools Partnership: how formal and nonformal educators collectively advance environmental literacy and sustainability across the school district Room 9Joshua Hunter • Christy Perrin • Laura Wood ᏙᎩᎷᏫᏍᏓᏁᎰ We Are Working Together Room 7BJessica Metz Bugs, Buckets, and Bioindicators: Creating Hands-On Macroinvertebrate Exploration Kits Room 10Heather Holley Wild Words, Living Landscapes: Creative Writing Pathways for Environmental Learning with Older Students Aged 12-101 Room 14Rhonda Waterhouse EENC Evaluation Clinic: Building Capacity & Relationships Room 8BMonifa Beverly • Jen Gathings • Lydia Sellers • Kathryn Stevenson

4:15pm EDT

Join Science Across NC: Year-round Statewide Collaborative Science Events Room 7BChristine Goforth • Lauren Greene • Jonathan Marchal Spencer Mountain History Hike: A Trail with a Story to Tell Room 9Erin Hines A Journey Through the Phosphorus Cycle: A Game-Based Investigation Room 14Cameron Good • M. Gail Jones • Madeline Stallard • Amy Taylor Enriched From Jump!: Centering Black Cultural Knowledge in EE Room 8BAja Gray Niñitos de la Naturaleza: Empowering early childhood learning through nature and community Room 10Andrea • Joan Ballista • Alexander Sabala

8:30am EDT

Coffee and Networking McKimmon - 2A Registration Desk Lobby

9:00am EDT

Welcome Remarks and Updates McKimmon - 2C

9:30am EDT

When Classrooms and Campuses Collide: Building Bridges Through Environmental Education Room 14Breanna Walker • Elizabeth Miles Beyond Tips & Tricks: How Gamification Supports Kids Time Spent Outside Room 9Samantha Briley • Eliza Denvil Not Their Burden: Rebalancing Responsibility & Wonder Room 7BRachel Woods Connecting your Existing Adult Volunteers with Meaningful Community Science Projects for Real Data Collection at your Site Room 10Shane Myers • Lauren Lampley From Programs to Leadership: The Business of EE Room 8BChip Freund • Jonathan Marchal

10:45am EDT

Strange Bait: Teaching Through the Weird and Spooky McKimmon - 2CLiz Z. Pardue

11:45am EDT

Full Conference Photo McKimmon - Courtyard

12:00pm EDT

Lunch and Awards Panel McKimmon - 2C

1:15pm EDT

Section Meeting: Central Section Room 7B Section Meeting: Eastern Section Room 10 Section Meeting: Piedmont Section Room 8B Section Meeting: Western Section Room 9

2:15pm EDT

Community-Engaged Resilience Education: Early Findings from Translating Classroom Lessons to Informal EE Contexts Room 14Liz DeMattia • Kerri Hampton • Cristina Quattrone • Caitlin Reilly • Ruimeng Wang Local Libraries, Live Animals, and Lessons Learned: A Case Study of the North Carolina Zoo's Summer Outreach Program and Evaluation Room 9Elizabeth Stratton Mindful and Playful. Collaborating with Mother Nature to create meaningful experiences of Environmental Education Room 7BLaura Lund Nature as Design Mentor: A Biomimicry Field Workshop Room 8BLeigh E Aultman New Lessons from Don't Waste It! Room 10Shannon Culpepper

4:00pm EDT

Investigating the Needs and Barriers to Collaborative Environmental Education and School–Community Partnerships in Middle Grades: A Case Study Across Southeastern North Carolina Room 8BAnna Patten The OCEAN FOR ALL Alliance: Building Capacity Through Global Collaboration and Evaluation Room 14Hannah Eaton • Flora Ulrich Puppets with a Purpose Room 10Cindy Furey • Lauren Greene Exploring Black Leadership in Outdoor Learning Room 9Maniyah Anderson Bowser • Ranita Dawkins Matters of Life, Death, & Earth: Lessons from a Course about Death, Dying, & Climate Justice Room 7BMallory McDuff