CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Equipping students has always been central to Amy Berry during her 10 years teaching environmental education at Campbellsville University.
Whether it’s giving students hands-on experience doing research at CU’s Clay Hill Memorial Forest, giving them instructions or, in some cases, literally equipping students with supplies they need, Berry, an environmental educator for CU, has found her passion in equipping students to serve and be successful once they graduate from CU.
“I equip them mainly by giving them experiences with me as an environmental educator,” Berry explained. “Anytime I can have a student working directly with me and getting those experiences with public programs and in the schools, library programs, and to give them skills and confidence, it helps reaffirm them that they are on the right path.”
And, sometimes, Berry will literally equip students.
Sometimes, it is literally, like finding what they need to do the carry out their research and taking them to parts of the property on the Gator,” she said.
Within her 10 years at CU, Berry has seen numerous students start successful careers in the environmental field.
“I love it,” Berry stated. “I love it that they were able to follow a passion and then, you know, leave the nest and be fully employed and still do the things that they love.”
Berry said, in teaching her students, she hopes a passion for teaching environmental education is evident.
“I hope that it shows through,” she said. “If they go on to be teachers in whatever field they’re working toward, I want to lead by example and equip them with that. It’s about equipping them to use their talents and gifts.”
One of Berry’s students, Caitlyn McMann, shared the impact Berry has had on her as an environmental science student.
“She has enriched my experience at Campbellsville University and equipped my learning for real-life application. Her love and joy for her work at Clay Hill have imbued me with the same, and due to her personal, hands-on teaching, I have been able to mentor young children who depend on me for nature education.”
Berry also seeks to tailor educational opportunities to the students and work with their strengths.
“I like for them to tell me what area they like,” Berry shared. “Is it that they want more experience doing hands-on stuff in the field, helping with research? Or are they comfortable with and want to really get experience working with kids?”
As an environmental educator, Berry goes back to the idea that we don’t “protect what we don't know about or care about.”
“Going back to that hands-on experience, if you are literally out in the field or out in the forest or at a wetland, you’re not just doing research, you’re falling in love with the environment,” Berry shared.
“In many ways, that’s how we preserve areas. When you know it, you love it. And then you have that sense of being an environmentalist and protecting. I very often talk about taking care of God’s creation.
Having opportunities to spend time in the environment is important, according to Berry.
“Children are having less and less opportunities to have outdoor experiences that aren’t structured and having that free time to just explore,” Berry said.
“I want to show children the possibilities and to get them comfortable with being in the outdoors.”
Throughout her time at CU, Amy Berry has equipped students in environmental education in a variety of ways. Here, Berry, center, participated with Zoe Scott, left, and Brianna McWilliams, both CU students at the time, at a Preschool Palooza with theme of being “Recycling Heroes.”
Berry’s love for the outdoors can be traced to her childhood growing up on the family farm in Western Kentucky.
“I was very lucky to grow up on a piece of property,” Berry said. “We had a garden, and we had cattle.”
Berry also emphasized good stewardship as an environmental educator based on the words of Genesis 1, where God gave humans power and control over creation.
“There are some people who could take that having dominion over everything is, we get to control everything,” Berry said, “and is a resource for us to use in any way we want to, which I think is a misinterpretation.”
“We were given all these incredible things, so why not protect every bit of it that we can?”
Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university that offers over 100 programs including doctoral, master, bachelor, associate and certificate programs. The website for complete information is xp3b.tt99949.com.