Project Info
Project Description
November 2024 – Hawai‘i Nature Center has named Rachael Taylor as its new Program Manager for Maui. In her new role, Taylor will oversee and advance school partnerships and intercession camps with a focus on building community relationships, teaching and mentoring students, and using nature to foster lasting learning experiences.
With more than a decade of experience in non-profit education, Taylor has dedicated her career to helping students foster lasting learning. Her previous roles involved managing a team of outdoor educators and leading efforts to teach students about their natural environment in Colorado.
For the next few months, she will be assessing community needs, collaborating with local organizations and redesigning HNC’s programs to serve Maui’s keiki and families.
“Coming home to Maui is a dream come true,” says Taylor, who was raised on Maui and has lived in Colorado since 2011. “Reinvesting my career on Maui to advance children’s education and engagement in nature is an incredible opportunity. Our goal is to take our popular school and camp programs and make them more accessible to the island as a whole with a mobile model.”
Taylor graduated from Seabury Hall in Makawao, Maui and earned a bachelor’s in Environmental Studies from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.
Since 1992 HNC maintained a center in ‘Īao Valley and is transitioning to a “mobile” program model to bring its programs closer to schools and the students it aims to reach. Identifying and utilizing field study sites island wide that can serve as HNC’s outdoor learning laboratories will make its programs more accessible to schools across the island.
