Education Director's Update

Education raptor Dessa, Rough-legged Hawk

The REGI educators, along with our amazing education birds, have been busy. As Molly McKay described, we were most recently at Klondike Days in Eagle River, where we interacted over a two-day period with hundreds of people who were fascinated with the birds we brought. We shared their amazing abilities and compelling stories, and the birds acted, as they do many times during the year, as educational partners and ambassadors for their species. As a teacher with many years of experience, I readily recognize and appreciate the birds' abilities to motivate and stimulate people's interest in both the birds themselves and the important issues connected to them.

Earlier, Karissa Mohr explained how REGI presented programs at two central Wisconsin schools in Rudolph and Vesper. We also just concluded another season of programs at the Wausau School Forest, where, for many years, REGI has been part of all Wausau fifth-graders' experience at this wonderful outdoor learning facility. We are honored to continue this environmental education partnership with the Wausau School District. While providing educational information to every age is important, I am especially happy that our staff gets so many chances to interact with young people. They are eager, inquisitive, and interested. It is gratifying to help them understand the beauty and complexity of the natural world, and our education birds always make that challenge easier and lots of fun!

All of us involved in sharing our experiences with the birds and their related issues appreciate our interactions with the public, and we look forward to many more. As a former public school teacher, I am proud of my involvement in that worthwhile endeavor, and now as REGI's Education Director, I am proud of our staff's continuing commitment to provide educational opportunities to everyone. And finally, I am always proud of, as well as awed by, all our raptors that work with us side-by-side to achieve REGI's educational mission.

Steve Fisher
REGI Education Director