Dave Honchalk retired from Montgomery County Public Schools in 2007 and has been involved with outdoor and environmental education for more than 35 years. He holds a BS in elementary science from California University (PA), a master’s in outdoor education from Northern Illinois University, and certification in Administration and Supervision.

While a graduate assistant at Northern, Dave had a unique opportunity to interact with many of the pioneers in the field of outdoor education. In fact, half of Dave’s professional career was spent as an outdoor education teacher at the Lathrop E. Smith Environmental Education Center in Montgomery County, MD.

For eight years, Dave served as the supervisor of the outdoor education program, one of the largest in the state. Dave served on the Board of the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education for nine years, where he served as executive Board member, president and conference chair. He firmly believes that creating environmentally literate students is one of the most important goals in education and will only increase in importance in the next decade.