Conservation Educator for 2008
The Vanderburgh County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) Conservation Educator this year is Eric Reek. Eric has a BS, MS in Biology Education from Purdue University and teaches Biology to High School students at Signature School in downtown Evansville.
The first Earth Day (1970) occurred during his undergraduate years at Purdue. As a Biology major, he became most interested in ecology and environmental science. It seemed clear to him then that there was a great need for environmental education in the schools, in order to bring about changes needed to make our society sustainable. 35 years later, the need to educate is still there, and he thinks we are still talking about change.
Standing in front of students every day, he feels at the same time it is
exciting and frightening to know that you can affect the way they think about
the world, and hopefully, the way they will treat the world through the
lifestyle they choose. He has had a great influence on his upper level biology
class and has instilled the importance of conservation on them through his
activities, such as a Canoe Trip that he was involved with earlier this fall. He
chose his International Baccalaureate (IB) Biology Group IV project with
conservation in mind; studying the pollution levels of Howell Wetland and their
possible causes. He serves as faculty advisor for the Conservation Club and
Adventure Club at Signature School. The Conservation Club does many projects
throughout the year, but one of the ongoing projects that he is particularly
involved with is their recycling program. Signature school recycles cans,
bottles, and paper thanks to Mr. Reek. Through Adventure Club, he has helped the
members, particularly the IB students, to focus their "Adventures" on
appreciating nature while getting Action hours.
For the last 8 years or so, he has served on the board of Wesselman Nature Society, and in that capacity helped manage monthly recycling collections around town that generate about 100 tons of recyclables every year. During those years they have been able to involve hundreds of high school students as volunteers at those events. Handling all those pounds of paper, plastic and aluminum cans is the best “hands on” lesson they could possibly have on the impact society is making on the environment, and on what we can do to change it.