NAI Blog

by Tim Merriman

In the mid-1970s one of the hottest ideas for schools due to soaring gas prices and field trip cutbacks was to build an outdoor education center on the school site. What could be better? I was an interpreter at Giant City State Park in southern Illinois and knew that my employer, Illinois Department of Conservation, was funding Youth Conservation Corps projects so I helped a local school land one to build a trail, pond and outdoor classroom. They used high school students to do the work and it was all done in one summer. In the Fall their Superintendent of Schools returned from a sabbatical and saw the center. He hired a bulldozer and removed it all in one afternoon. “It was too risky.” The protests of teachers, principal, students and parents were trumped by one administrator.

I am now working with Rocky Mountain Raptor Program in Fort Collins on locating a nature charter school on their grounds. It will place 450 children in grades K through 8 adjacent to the Raptor Center and students will have hands-on daily experiences with live birds of prey. Math, language and social studies can be integrated with studying nature. The local school board had a very positive response when the idea was presented and the formal proposal is now under final review. We are optimistic that it will be approved.

Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, has a new K-5 public school opening this fall on their site with similar opportunities for collaboration. Nature preschools are popping up all over at nature centers. Several schools in the U.S. have single grade classrooms on a nature center site. This new trend of schools co-located with nature centers is growing. I am hoping it is not a fad and proves so valuable that the model is carried as many places as reasonable.

The Washington Post reported on December 5, 2007, that:

The scores from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment showed that U.S. 15-year-olds trailed their peers from many industrialized countries. The average science score of U.S. students lagged behind those in 16 of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world’s richest countries. The U.S. students were further behind in math, trailing counterparts in 23 countries.

Nature and environmental centers working hand in glove with schools can help a new generation of science and math students have context for what they are learning. Cognition through memorization and formal education motivations such as grades, diplomas, and detention lack the incredible power evident in self-motivated students, who have had an experience with someone or some place that turned them on. Some of us become life-long learners and lovers of science and nature because of that spark lit within us as a child. Why can’t we do that more routinely in school? Daily hands-on contextual experiences have greater power to do that.

Greening of America has became a conversation everywhere in our nation, but there’s always the danger that gas prices will go down a bit, doom projections will dim and we will return to business as usual. As we experiment with these new models that link nonformal learning experiences to formal classrooms in a systematized way, it is important that we test our progress and prove this works or make changes until it does. If this does prove to be an important new or renewed movement, it will be “green” in the best way. Children will walk out of school and play and learn in nature, much like they did only sixty or seventy years ago in one-room schools or at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm. What do you think? Leave a comment.

by Jim Covel, NAI President

This may sound a bit silly coming from someone who has worked in the non-profit sector for over 20 years, but I’ve suddenly realized there’s no profit in non-profit organizations!  Perhaps I should explain further.  Most 501(c)3 organizations receive their tax-exempt status in recognition of providing a benefit to society in some way.  As an example, NAI promotes professional development for interpreters, and in turn, we interpreters provide a valuable service in educating the public about their heritage.  So far, this makes perfect sense.

The funding of these not-for-profits is left up to the organizations.  Some are strictly charitable, relying on donations to carry out their work—think about the SPCA or Red Cross among many others.  However, there are a number of associations (literally thousands) that provide benefits to select groups, and these are funded primarily by sponsors and members of the beneficiary group.  NAI was originally organized around that support strategy.

However, in the 20+ years since NAI was formed, we have shifted the support strategy of the organization.  Because we have been very reluctant to increase membership fees (and that’s generally a good thing), dues now support about one-third of the cost of member services.  NAI has made up the difference by initiating a number of other fee-based programs (training, certification, workshops, publications) that are consistent with our mission and generate revenues that also subsidize member services.  This is why I say there’s no profit in non-profits—the simple schema of assessing membership fees to support services is no longer practical in many cases.  The associations that are surviving today have evolved sophisticated strategies to finance their services.  Those that didn’t adapt their strategies have gone by the wayside.

The fact that NAI continues to thrive in these challenging times is a testament to the capability of the staff and volunteer leadership.  But there’s a down side.  A portion of the time, energy and resources of NAI must now be devoted to the revenue-generating programs, so the resources exist to maintain and improve member services.  In essence, we are juggling many more items these days to maintain the essential services we started with.

Occasionally I’ll hear long-time members say that NAI has changed since they joined.  We’re larger and more complex, some members feel more distant from the main office operations, there seem to be more things competing for the attention of the officers and staff.  I have to admit that all of these things may be true to some extent.  We also have a full line of publications, a professional training and development program that’s used worldwide, national and international workshops that draw participants from around the globe and a staff of exceptionally talented and dedicated people that provide these services.  All of these endeavors generate the resources to serve a record-breaking 5,200 members—and constitute additional opportunities for members at the same time.  This, indeed, is not the scale of organization my father—or I—would have imagined when we first became involved in the old Western Interpreters Association many years ago.

But that smaller, familiar, personal NAI still exists at the Region and Section level.  If you’re not already active in your Region or Section, you’re missing out on the opportunity to connect with fellow interpreters, make new friends and renew old acquaintances.  This is the place to enjoy the camaraderie of professional peers.  This is where my father’s NAI thrives today.

You can have the best of both worlds.  Enjoy the close personal connection available as an active participant in your Region and/or a professional Section related to your interests.  But also take the opportunity to attend a national workshop, read the publications you receive, visit Interpnet.com or our new website, onlinelegacy.org, periodically.  You can have that local and national experience at the same time if you choose to.  It’s all there for you, and you can get a lot out of your membership if you take advantage of these opportunities.  That’s how you can profit from this non-profit organization.