Michelle Simpson – Director
Michelle brings to BEEC her passion for experiential learning and her dedication to Earth stewardship. She has served as the Director of Environmental Education at Northfield Mount Hermon School, Executive Director at Oak Meadow, and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro, where she established Kids Club at Retreat Farm, a nature-based afterschool program. Michelle is a graduate of Harvard’s Women in Education Leadership Program, Antioch New England’s Environmental Studies Master’s Program and she holds a B.S. in Education and English from the University of Rhode Island. Presenting on tradition and innovation in K-12 education at conferences like SxSWedu, National Association of Independent Schools, National Partnership for Educational Access, Children & Nature Network, and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, she has provided thought leadership in the progressive, experiential education sector for the past decade.
Michelle loves traveling to new places and has a 1979 Airstream for inspiration.
Patti Smith – Naturalist
Conservation Initiatives & Public Programs
Patti has worked at BEEC since its founding in 1991, continuing to develop and share her lifelong fascination with the natural world. Those who read her View from Heifer columns know that some of her best friends are rodents and they will be acquainted with Willow the beaver, Burdock the porcupine, and the other wild creatures she has befriended and cared for. Patti is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and fields the many calls that come in to BEEC about wildlife woes. Her favorite season is winter.
Kristina Weeks – Environmental Educator
School & Youth Programs
Kristina joined BEEC in 2012, and loves exploring with youth of all ages to discover together the wonders of nature. She enjoys tracking in the sand mud and snow, playing games becoming animals, and creating nature arts and crafts. Kristina grew up in Papua New Guinea and Botswana, with parents who loved adventure in the great outdoors which instilled in her a great love of the natural world. At Marlboro College, Kristina earned her B.S. in Conservation Biology, with a focus on carnivore ecology and community conservation in southern Africa. At Antioch University New England, Kristina earned her M.S. in Environmental Education, with a focus on a continuum of outdoor and place-based education through the elementary and middle grades.
Sarah Tsalbins – Environmental Educator
A lifelong hiker, cyclist, canoeist and ‘bird nerd,’ Sarah is happiest when rambling in wild places and working with young people. She loves that she gets to do both with BEEC. For 15+ years Sarah has created and led learning experiences everywhere from museums to riparian zones to botanic gardens to traditional classrooms. As an educator, she loves to share her passions for ecology and history while nurturing a sense of curiosity, stewardship and interdependence. Sarah grew up in New Haven, Connecticut and lived on the west coast for two decades. After receiving her B.A. in History from Reed College she earned a teaching credential and M.A. in Education from Mills College and taught Ethnic Studies and U.S. History for five years in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she also worked as a museum and environmental educator. Sarah is very happy to be re-rooting in the northeast, particularly in Southern Vermont, one of the first places where her sense of joyful and curious connection to the natural world bloomed as a child.
Ellen Peters – Environmental Educator
Ellen Peters is from Barre, Vermont. She earned her elementary education degree from The University of Vermont. She has never taught anywhere but in Vermont! Ellen began her career in a one room school in Guildhall, Vermont. After ten years there she took a job in a “big” school in Jamaica, Vermont where she taught primarily first and second grades for 28 years. She ended her career at Townshend Elementary School when she retired in June of 2021. Ellen’s passion in teaching is hands-on, inquiry based, place- based outdoor education. Music and puppets also play a large part. She does not feel ready for a life without any teaching at all, which lead her heart to BEEC. “The curiosity and wonder of children, especially outdoors, is what feeds my heart.”
Mo Rosenberg – Office / Business Manager
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Mo grew up on Long Island, NY and earned her B.A. in environmental ethics and geology from New York University. She’s spent time guiding kayak tours in southern Alaska, tracking desert tortoises with the U.S.G.S. in the Mojave, and working as a park ranger for several seasons in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, a place that will always be close to her heart. She’s been an organic vegetable farmer for a little over a decade, most recently just across the river in Winchester, N.H. Learning the ropes of farm office work has helped to hone her administrative skills, and she’s excited to join BEEC and put them to good use to help make a difference in this corner of the world. A few of her favorite things are wildflowers, conifers, and rocks, and she can often be found staring up into the canopy of really big trees.
Meet the Nature Explorers Camp Staff team here
In Memory of Deb Smith
Through her work at BEEC over 15 years, Deb brought joy to many and she touched the lives and spirits of countless area youth and teachers. Learn more about Deb here.