Member Spotlight: Laura Johnson Collard
Executive Director, MAEOE
Long before she was our Executive Director, Laura was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras where she worked with local communities to conserve resources. Through this experience she learned the importance of collaboration and listening to others. She also learned that she loved to travel, meet people, and experience other cultures.
Laura and her family moved to Maryland from the United Kingdom in 2010. At the time, her children were 5 and 7 years old, she volunteered at Rosemary Hills Elementary School helping with a butterfly garden and a few other non-profits helping to develop fundraising plans.
In 2011, Laura was encourged by a friend to apply for the MAEOE director position and attended her first MAEOE Youth Summit that May as a volunteer, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Laura shares, “What was important to me when I joined MAEOE was that the organization was working in partnership with state agencies and non-profits to create and implement an environmental literacy strategy and that the Maryland Green Schools program was in over 400 schools acress the state. I loved the grassroots network that MDGS had created.”
The most important thing that Laura has learned over the years as the Executive Director is that “the people who are involved in environmental and outdoor education are incredible, they are passionate, they share knowledge and resources, they inspire me every day. If we collaborate together, we can make a difference today for a more sustainable tomorrow.” She also shared that her walks in the woods have changed since joining MAEOE, saying that “they bring peace, improve health, and inspire new thoughts and dreams.”
A quote that inspires Laura is from Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. “Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
When asked what tips or advice she has for new members, she quickly replied, “Take time to meet people, collaboration helps to reach goals. Attend the MAEOE Conference again and again!!”
