It’s no question that this community values health. From 5Ks to cooking classes, wellness is always at the forefront of conversation. However, many times we forget perhaps the most important source of health: nature. Healthy New Albany’s Nature Program wants to raise awareness about the healing power of our natural surroundings, and its newest coordinator, Kelli Pence, is at the forefront of this goal.
As Nature Program Assistant Coordinator, Pence helps program coordinator Molly Scott in choosing topics, planning classes and teaching them to the community. Pence now happily leads kids through nature walks, sensory activities and more. However, this passionate teacher was once a pupil herself.
Kelli Pence
pence working with students
Nature Program Newbie
Pence moved to New Albany from Pataskala about five years ago, and from the moment she stepped foot in town, she felt at home.
“As soon as we moved here, we were like, ‘This is our place, this is where we belong,’” Pence says.
One of the places where she found this connection was the Nature Program classes. In search of an activity that combined her love of the outdoors with her desire to connect with her new community, the program was the perfect fit. She first enrolled her youngest son, Liam, in World of Wonder, or WOW, a program for 3- to 5-year-olds that uses hands-on activities to immerse young children in nature.
WOW marked the beginning of the Nature Program, which started in response to the COVID-19 pandemic when Scott was looking for a way to bring families together in a time when connection was difficult.
“We couldn’t do much else, but we could get people outside,” Scott says.
Although toddler programs were the basis, the organization now has five different programs for ages ranging from tots to high-schoolers, encouraging a connection to nature throughout a child’s development. The classes meet two to three times a month with topics ranging from owl pellet dissections to fungus foraging.
The purpose of these classes is to help children understand how fundamental nature is in their health while giving them an outlet to be free in their environment. While kids dig, play and explore the world around them, they learn valuable lessons about the world in the form of an outdoor play date.
“A lot of these kids, they maybe have trouble learning in a typical classroom setting,” Pence says, “but out in the woods they just really come alive.”
The beauty of the Nature Program is its scalability for all ages – not just children. Scott and her team build classes that both adults, kids and even older adults can mutually benefit from. The team chooses topics they feel interested and passionate about so that parents and grandparents can learn alongside their children.
“The information that’s being presented should be just as interesting to a 3-year-old as it is to their grandma,” Scott says.
Taking the Reins
Kelli Pence
tapping maple trees
Pence can attest to the draw. As the program expanded, Scott noticed Pence’s passion for nature and reached out to her to assist with planning and leading classes. At the end of last summer, Pence shifted from student to teacher and became the Nature Program assistant coordinator.
Pence acknowledges this position is the first of her professional experience with nature. She was a dental hygienist for almost nine years before taking on the Nature Program. She also helps her husband with his real estate business, and while bookkeeping and payroll kept her busy, she wanted to find something that reignited her passion for the outdoors.
The new role has been the perfect way to contribute to Pence’s community while continuously learning more about nature – and she takes every opportunity to expand her knowledge.
Pence took the Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist program through The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences, which gave her valuable knowledge about Ohio’s environment and how to teach about it. She is working to complete her certification now, which includes 40 hours of coursework and 40 hours of community service.
Kelli Pence
pence family
When she’s not teaching or taking classes, her nose is in foraging books or field guides. Pence knows how eager children are to learn, and she is committed to giving them answers.
“Kids ask all of the questions,” Pence says. “They want to know everything!”
Each of the nature program classes present a new topic, and the class begins with a book and snack themed around this topic. After that, the kids are free to venture into the wild – under the watchful eye of their teachers, that is.
From trudging through creeks to learning survival skills in the woods, each class uses New Albany’s environment to teach kids how to value their surroundings while staying safe, too. The team hopes that through hands-on learning, their classes can improve children’s health in a well-rounded manner.
“Not only are we talking about health and wellness in a physical sense,” Scott says, “we’re talking about mental health and wellness and unity.”
Megan Brokamp is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
