Shelby Serra Email & Phone Number

Hawaii, United States

Juneau, Alaska, United States

Educating and inspiring visitors from all over the world using the natural beauty of Alaska’s wilderness, including the rainforest, glaciers, and marine mammals of the area

Maui County, Hawaii, United States

Responsible for supporting Pacific Whale Foundation's advocacy work, leading engagement efforts in the area of ocean conservation, and advancing the organization's conservation and policy agenda.

Hawaiian Islands

Responsible for coordinating environmental outreach and conservation messaging for the organization, formulating policy advocacy agendas, and assisting with marine debris research studies.

Hawaiian Islands

Working for the mission to protect the oceans through science and advocacy, and to inspire environmental stewardship, I educate guests on the local marine life here in Maui County. In an effort to inspire ocean conservation, we treat our Eco-tours as floating classrooms, integrating education programs throughout the trip.During Humpback Whale season I narrate whale watch tours, educating on the natural history of the North Pacific Humpback Whale population and interpreting behavior as we observe it. Also as a Research Assistant, I work in the field to add to our Humpback Whale ID research, photographing ventral side of tail flukes that are unique to each individual. This position involves in-feild data collection as well as in-office data upload and cataloging.

Maui, Hawaii

Portland, Oregon Area

Wild Lilac is a Reggio Emilia inspired school with a foundational belief that children who develop self-confidence, the ability to think critically, problem solve, and engage in creative risk-taking in the early years later have the tools and confidence to excel not only in school but as lifelong learners and environmentally aware community members. As a lead teacher, I designed and implemented a constructivist learning environment that sparked creative thinking, planning and reflecting. It is paramount to the classroom community's success that teachers build relationships with the families of all of their students. Wild Lilac follows a cohort model where the same team of teachers will be with a student for 3 years (infant/toddler years), and an new team of teachers finish out that child's early childhood education for the remaining 2 or 3 years (preschool). This provides much needed continuity and stability for the children as they navigate the waters of early childhood. Wild Lilac has a sizable garden space where we studied and observed the life cycle of many native vegetables and flowers. The children participated in all stages from planting to caring for to harvesting and preparing the vegetables. They helped our on-site chef prepare our delicious meals for the school. Accessibility to such a space allows a strong connection to build between the students and the natural environment. It fosters a love and appreciation for food, nature and wildlife; things that sometimes we as adults tend to take for granted. Utilizing my past experience as an environmental educator and my higher education, I have the autonomy to design invitations around topics such as environmental science, marine biology and geology. Units often last three to four weeks in an effort to create a lasting impression. The students also received enough exposure so that they too began to teach their families the very topics they are exploring.

Newport, Oregon

See below - 'Environmental Education Intern 2014'I was invited back to the aquarium for a second season. I was given more responsibility, including helping first-year interns navigate the job duties. I was given my own programs to run independently, including learning how to manage and direct guest speaker presentations. In my second summer with the Aquarium, there were new programs and new animals which meant more to learn and more to educate the public about.

Greater New York City Area

I was one of 26 picked from around the country for a 10-month long fellowship with the New York City Parks and Recreation. For the first couple of weeks, we explored the different facets of a highly functioning government entity. We interviewed with our top 10 options for placement and were matched based on how we ranked our interests and how we were ranked as individuals. I was matched with the fairly recently added Energy and Sustainability Division. As a member of the team, we were responsible for the energy usage of the entire agency. The division was tasked with following Mayor Bill De Blasio's plan to reduce New York City's greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. This plan was laced with tasks of analyzing complex administrative, operational and organizational issues. Since the Parks department owns most of the city's buildings and land, we had to strategize and succeed in putting a large dent the City’s goal. We started with reducing our building energy usage; we visited buildings in all five boroughs and performed lighting surveys and HVAC maintenance. In addition, we created a preventative maintenance plan for those heating and cooling systems, incentivized energy reduction, trained building managers on how to install green roofing and installed solar panels in our own building. Finally we piloted a composting program in our own building in an effort to reduce waste in a closed-loop system. After all these duties were performed, either completed or in progress, we had to present the information to a diverse group of audiences, from Department Chiefs to maintenance workers. Each presentation had to be tailored so that the audience had a clear picture of progress.Working and living in New York City not only gave me important work experience, but also instilled a confidence in me that I am able to adapt to survive and succeed at a high level.

Newport, Oregon

As an educator at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, I gave public presentations regarding the animals that they house and how they are cared for. Some presentations were formal with audiences of up to 200 guests, and some presentations were private, fee-based presentations of less than 10 that included animal interaction. In addition, we ran programs that were free-choice; we would set up an intriguing activity and engage in any guest that wondered up, sometimes interacting with 50 or more guests in an hour period. As a member of the education department, it was a requirement to be knowledgable about all of the other departments that make up the successful operation of the aquarium. I gave 'behind-the-scenes' tours of the facility, where I would lead small groups of 15 or less people around the aquarium where the public is not allowed and educate them on everyday operations. This included information on where we get our animals and our water for the tanks and how they are cleaned, and how and what the animals are fed on a daily basis. As an intern, I was also required to provide meaningful feedback to my supervisors in an effort to continuously improve the program. This included recording guest feedback and personal daily reflections. At the end of the internship, I was to complete a final project where I created a video that outlined each of the education department's programs via personal interviews and real-life program action.

Eugene, Oregon Area

In the Spring Term of my final year at the University of Oregon, I was exploring the restoration facet of the environmental world. I worked for a local non profit whose mission is dedicated to fostering appreciation of nature nearby and providing tools for ecological living. As a restoration intern, I completed various projects in and around the Alton Baker Park region. One project I worked on was graffiti remediation along Autzen foot bridge where I designed nature-themed stencils and sprayed them along the walls of the bridge. In addition, I helped prepare the Learnscape on the grounds. The Learnscape garden is an educational outdoor space for the summer teaching season. My preparations including general weeding, planting, mowing and building trellis'. In my time with Nearby Nature, I learned of local native flora as well as the invasive that plague them. I was required to identify these plants and teach the public who used the park about their importance.