Staff Lead Highlight: Kelly Bohrer, Sustainability Manager
Staff Lead Highlights are a great way for volunteers to get to
know our staff and for staff to share their work with volunteers. We are
fortunate to have dedicated staff who truly bring our mission to life, help
connect individuals to nature and support our efforts in our
community. This month we are
highlighting one of our newer staff leads, Kelly Bohrer, Sustainability
Manager.
Kelly always knew she wanted to do something with
environmental science - ever since doing a water quality study for a science
fair project in 8th grade in Southeastern Virginia. She shared, "While I have always hated
bugs (and am ridiculously fearful of stinging bugs), I have always loved the
outdoors. I have great memories of
playing in the woods behind our house and swimming in the ocean and pools when
we lived in Virginia; riding bikes, ice skating, and swimming at a lake near
our home in Illinois; exploring the coast when we lived in Massachusetts; canoeing, spelunking, and hiking with friends
when we lived in Indiana; skiing and hiking when I lived in Utah and Colorado;
and hiking, biking, and horseback riding in Ohio. Being out in nature is where I feel connected
to God, to others, and to the world in really joyful ways." Kelly was one of the first students to
graduate as an environmental biologist at the University of Dayton in
1996. Her history with MetroParks
started while at the University of Dayton and she interned at Cox Arboretum as
a naturalist, and her senior project was working with MetroParks land
stewardship team to design and implement "Conservation Corner" at Cox
Arboretum. Kelly credits this for
"setting me on the pathway of investing time and energy into providing
high-impact experiential learning for others - such a great way to
learn!". After spending 23 years at
the University of Dayton developing biology lab, social justice, and
sustainability curriculum; creating community partnerships and experiential
learning programs for college students; teaching a senior-level sustainability
course; and assisting with the development of a sustainability minor,
sustainability major, and sustainability center, she has found her way back to
MetroParks to do sustainability in action! When asked what she enjoys and finds rewarding about working
for Five Rivers MetroParks, she responded "I absolutely love the mission
and values of Five Rivers MetroParks and have such tremendous respect for my
MetroParks colleagues who dedicate their careers and passion towards our
parks. MetroParks is an incredible asset
for the Miami Valley region, and I am honored to be a part of ensuring their
existence and sustainability for years and years to come. I love that we strive for 90% natural habitat
in our parks while at the same time providing so many different engagement and
recreational opportunities for the public." Volunteerism is a strong part of her history, is excited to
work with volunteers, and says "Our volunteers are an important piece of
the legacy MetroParks leave for the next generation- beautiful parks that offer connection,
recreation, rejuvenation, climate change resilience, homes for millions of
plants and animals, and wellbeing for all." As a newer staff lead, Kelly has mainly had
the opportunity to work with the Master Recycler volunteers but sees what an
impact a dedicated group of volunteers can make. Kelly shared that over 200
members as part of this group regionally, offering their time to MetroParks as
volunteers, and "we are
successfully achieving our goal to ensure over 90% of event waste does NOT go
to the landfill. We truly could not make
this happen without our volunteers. They
not only ensure that event waste is diverted from the landfill (instead is
recycled or composted), but they also educate the public about waste,
recycling, and composting. This helps us
with our educational and conservation efforts to make our region more
sustainable and resilient!" You can support Kelly's passion by joining her
at the Wagner Subaru Outdoor Experience at one of the Sustainability
Team Opportunities!
Thank you, Kelly, for being a true supporter of
volunteers and volunteerism at MetroParks!
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