Educator Summer Conference: The Healing Power of Nature

Keynote Speaker: Jill Arbini  (she/her/hers)
Ashes to Roots
Common Ground Grief

Educators carry grief. Whether it is your own, your students', your colleagues', your community's, carrying it alone makes it heavier than it needs to be.

This communal grief ritual workshop invites participants into a gentle, reflective space designed to honor the significance of any type of grief or loss including both personal and collective burdens while fostering connection, release, and renewal. Bring any kind of loss: personal, collective, named or unnameable, recent or twenty years old.

Through guided breathwork, attendees are encouraged to arrive fully in the moment, softening tension and grounding themselves in a shared space. Participants are then invited to hold a small stone, using it as a physical representation to acknowledge and silently name the grief they carry and, when ready, write it on the stone. In a collective act of witnessing and “withness,” each participant places their stone into a shared fountain, symbolizing the release into a communal pool of sorrow.

The workshop then shifts toward renewal, as participants reflect on future hopes and intentions by decorating a vessel for a living plant as a symbol of growth that can come from sorrow. Attendees then use the water from the shared pool to of sorrow nourish these plants, reinforcing the idea of shared community and growth.  

We'll close by walking you through how to bring this ritual back to your own setting and ways to adapt it for staff workdays, classrooms, or the students you work with.

Bio: Jill Arbini, Program Director of Common Ground Grief, is an Associate Clinical Social Worker with a Master’s in Social Work and a professional focus on grief, trauma, and community-based healing. Her experience includes designing programs, facilitating grief groups for all ages, planning and leading healing events, creating and implementing curriculum for children, teens, adults, and families, and training volunteers, interns, and mental health clinicians. She brings both clinical insight and practical leadership to her work. She is passionate about convening people in meaningful ways by creating spaces where individuals feel seen, supported, and connected. Her dedication to this work is motivated by the support she experienced through a compassionate community after  experiencing significant grief and loss in her own life.

Roots to Resiliency Closing Panel 
Moderator: Tiffany Wylie  (she/her)
Director, Volunteer & Internship Programs, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Tiffany Wylie is the Director, Volunteer and Internship Programs and has been with the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County since 2012.  She oversees the museum's STEAM Pathways initiative, enabling opportunities for people to participate in hands-on, career building, authentic museum projects. Over her 14 years at NHMLAC, Tiffany built an innovative Volunteer Program that provides a service home for the community of Los Angeles, through which hundreds of volunteers annually find a place to learn, build skills, and find inspiration that enriches their lives. Tiffany has also supported major institutional initiatives, including the development of the Museum's IDEA Transformational Framework. Previously, with the Sierra Club's Mission Outdoors program, Tiffany helped build a movement advocating for outdoor access, because our green spaces should be a safe, inspiring home for all to explore.
 

Roots to Resiliency Closing Panel
Fre'Drisha "Sha" Dixon (she/her)
Attorney and Community Organizer
 

Fre’Drisha “Sha” Dixon is a California-licensed attorney, executive leader, and longtime Inglewood resident whose work reflects a sustained commitment to justice, accountability, and educational equity. As a mother and community advocate, she has spent more than a decade organizing alongside parents, educators, and residents to advance schools that honor children, families, and neighborhoods with transparency, dignity, and local control. She is currently running for Mayor of Inglewood, where she is championing a vision of ethical leadership, public accountability, and community- centered governance.

Roots to Resiliency Closing Panel
Linda Bañuelos (she/her)
Principal, Odyssey Charter Schools

Linda Bañuelos has dedicated her  career with Odyssey Charter School to creating joyful, supportive learning environments where students and staff can thrive. She spent 15 years teaching 1st and 2nd grade, where she developed a deep appreciation for the importance of nurturing the whole child—academically, socially, and emotionally. Those years in the classroom reinforced her belief that strong relationships, a sense of belonging, and joy are essential foundations for learning.

Roots to Resiliency Closing Panel
Geetha Chandroth (she/her)
School-Based Psychotherapist, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services
 

Geetha Chandroth is a Psychotherapist at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services providing virtual, in-office, and school-based mental health care to children and families. Geetha is also an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Psychology and Education. She enjoys being in nature, singing, and playing with her dog!

Roots to Resiliency Closing Panel
Kirti Baranwal (she/her)
Teacher Librarian and Reading Specialist
 

Kirti has been a teacher in LAUSD at the elementary and middle school levels for 27 years. She is currently a Teacher Librarian at Clinton Middle School. Kirti loves living in LA, grew up in Ohio, and immigrated to the US from India when she was 5 years old.

Roots, Shoots, and New Perspectives
DeAnna Lee-Rivers (she/her/hers)
STEMSoul TEACH, LLC
 

Workshop Description: What if growing food without soil could grow something even more powerful, a generation of scientists? In this immersive workshop, educators step into dual roles: curious learner and intentional teacher. As you get your hands wet exploring hydroponics, you'll examine how this soil-free, waste-reducing food technology can nourish both plants and communities — especially those navigating food deserts and food insecurity across California's urban landscapes.

Through the lens of culturally responsive teaching, social-emotional learning, and authentic science practices, you'll leave with a refreshed toolkit and a renewed sense of your students' potential to see themselves as scientists.

Bio: DeAnna Lee-Rivers is a science educator, curriculum developer, and founder of STEMSoul TEACH, LLC, an organization committed to making STEM education joyful, equitable, and emotionally resonant. With over 15 years of experience, she integrates science learning with social-emotional development, centering belonging and curiosity—especially for students from historically marginalized communities.
 

Wildlife Post-Fire: Applying Research Fieldwork into Classrooms
Miroslava Munguia Ramos (she/her/hers) and Mary Logan (she/her/hers)
Santa Monica Mountains Fund and National Park Service (Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area)
 

Workshop description: Wildfires are a natural part of southern California’s Mediterranean ecosystem, and researchers actively study and monitor how wildlife returns to fire-impacted areas. Research data, including images from wildlife camera traps, provide insight to wildlife species, their habitat uses, and their behavior. To help engage the community and students into large-scale wildfire recovery efforts, researchers and interpreters work together to provide transparency in the research process to showcase the fieldwork and data analysis efforts. 

Bio: Miroslava Munguia Ramos is the wildlife and volunteer program technician at the Santa Monica Mountains Fund, the official non-profit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (National Park Service). She is the lead for the national award-winning Woolsey Fire Recovery camera project where she works with volunteers to install, deploy, and retrieve wildlife cameras to monitor wildlife communities impacted by large-scale environmental stressors including wildfires. Her previous work experience includes working as a park guide across Interpretation, Education, and Volunteer Programs and managing a citizen/community science program collecting environmental DNA through soil and water samples to study the biodiversity of the Los Angeles River. She connects her research and interpretation experiences to provide engaging public programming to showcase research efforts across urban areas. 

Wildlife Post-Fire: Applying Research Fieldwork into Classrooms
Miroslava Munguia Ramos (she/her/hers) and Mary Logan (she/her/hers)
Santa Monica Mountains Fund and National Park Service (Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area)
 

Workshop description: Wildfires are a natural part of southern California’s Mediterranean ecosystem, and researchers actively study and monitor how wildlife returns to fire-impacted areas. Research data, including images from wildlife camera traps, provide insight to wildlife species, their habitat uses, and their behavior. To help engage the community and students into large-scale wildfire recovery efforts, researchers and interpreters work together to provide transparency in the research process to showcase the fieldwork and data analysis efforts.

Bio: Mary Logan is a biologist at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Her passion for wildlife conservation has taken her across the country and beyond to work with fishers, condors, Mohave ground squirrels, and desert tortoises in California, shorebirds in eastern Virginia, and lemurs in Madagascar. With the National Park Service, she currently leads the Nature Neighbor Project, which combines scientific research conducted at the Recreation Area with an engagement strategy that educates and inspires the public to protect local wildlife. Working with local schools and teachers, Mary is establishing collaborative programs designed to increase students’ awareness of the wildlife they live among, engage students in conservation through Citizen Science, and build a deeper connection to natural resources that fosters a commitment to stewardship.

Beaks! What’s on the Menu?: Birds as a Model of Resilience & Source of Wellness 
Chantal Ochoa-Clark (she/her/hers) and Amanda Bueno-Kling (she/her/hers)
UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden
 

Workshop description: Birds have spent millions of years evolving unique and fascinating ways to survive, and their beaks tell this story. In this engaging workshop, you'll explore how different beak shapes influence survival. You'll participate in an interactive game where you will "become" various bird species using their unique beak shapes to compete for food! Additionally, we will discuss birdwatching as a simple yet powerful mindfulness practice that benefits both students and teachers. You will leave the workshop with new resources to inspire curiosity and strengthen connections with the natural world, as well as tools to incorporate this learning into your classroom.

Bio: Chantal Ochoa-Clark is an accomplished educator with over a decade of experience in both formal and informal education settings. She began her professional journey as an intern at the Dominguez Rancho Adobe Museum, eventually advancing to the Education and Office Coordinator role. Throughout her career, Ochoa-Clark has collaborated with various esteemed organizations, including the USS Iowa Battleship, Torrance Unified School District, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Institution, Downey Unified School District, and, currently, the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden. Her diverse experiences reflect her commitment and expertise in education.
 

Beaks! What’s on the Menu?: Birds as a Model of Resilience & Source of Wellness 
Chantal Ochoa-Clark (she/her/hers) and Amanda Bueno-Kling (she/her/hers)
UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden
 

Workshop description: Birds have spent millions of years evolving unique and fascinating ways to survive, and their beaks tell this story. In this engaging workshop, you'll explore how different beak shapes influence survival. You'll participate in an interactive game where you will "become" various bird species using their unique beak shapes to compete for food! Additionally, we will discuss birdwatching as a simple yet powerful mindfulness practice that benefits both students and teachers. You will leave the workshop with new resources to inspire curiosity and strengthen connections with the natural world, as well as tools to incorporate this learning into your classroom.
 

Bio: Amanda Bueno-Kling is a dedicated K-12 educator with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She currently serves as an Education Specialist at the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden. Bueno-Kling has substantial experience as an informal educator, having successfully developed and led programs for summer camps, classroom initiatives, and outdoor field trips. Her mission is to create environments that foster curiosity and inspire individuals to cultivate meaningful connections with the biodiversity around them. In her free time, you’ll find her birdwatching, botanizing, hiking, using iNaturalist, and learning all she can about the flora and fauna of Los Angeles.

Native Science 102: Bringing Nature into the Classroom
Samantha MJ Yang (she/her/hers)
Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians
 

Workshop description: As the tribal ecologist for the Gabrieleno (Tongva) San Gabriel Band, I always get asked how people can add more "nature" and native science into their learning. Well, here's how you do it! We'll discuss culturally appropriate reciprocity, hands on projects, and evolving perspectives in hands on education with our non-human relatives on Mother Earth!

Bio: Samantha MJ Yang is a classically trained science illustrator and biologist who works with her tribe to connect people to place in the Los Angeles Basin. Her work focuses on collaboration between Western and Indigenous scientists to find the best solutions for land restoration in heavily impacted urban and wild ecosystems in her ancestral territory. She is the founder of the Gabrieleno Tongva Stewardship Crew and serves as Tribal Ecologist for the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians.

Native Plant Discovery & Journaling in NHM’s Nature Gardens
Shannon Subers (they/them/theirs) – Interpretive Training
Tate Tilles-Perrine (she/her/hers) – Program Manager, Horticulture; Edible Garden Horticulturist
Daniel Feldman – Senior Manager, Horticulture
Irene Eppard – Horticulturist
NHMLAC
Edible Garden

Workshop description: Join NHMLA staff for a garden tour and hands-on nature journaling experience. Led by the Horticulture Team, a guided sensory tour will explore a portion of the Nature Gardens, inviting participants to engage deeply with the landscape. Learn about the gardens’ role as a Certified Wildlife Habitat and how garden spaces can spark wonder, cultivate discovery, and nurture responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds. Then, experience firsthand how nature journaling is a powerful tool for mindfulness and scientific inquiry. No artistic skills required!

Bio: Shannon Subers (they/them) is a Program Manager for the Natural History Museum and La Brea Tar Pits. As part of the Interpretive Training team, Shannon teaches volunteers to communicate science to the public. Shannon’s work in school districts, nonprofits, and outdoor learning has informed their interdisciplinary approach to science education. They particularly enjoy using art and interpretive techniques to make science more relevant to visitors.
 

Native Plant Discovery & Journaling in NHM’s Nature Gardens
Shannon Subers (they/them/theirs) – Interpretive Training
Tate Tilles-Perrine (she/her/hers) – Program Manager, Horticulture; Edible Garden Horticulturist
Daniel Feldman – Senior Manager, Horticulture
Irene Eppard – Horticulturist
NHMLAC
Edible Garden

Workshop description: Join NHMLA staff for a garden tour and hands-on nature journaling experience. Led by the Horticulture Team, a guided sensory tour will explore a portion of the Nature Gardens, inviting participants to engage deeply with the landscape. Learn about the gardens’ role as a Certified Wildlife Habitat and how garden spaces can spark wonder, cultivate discovery, and nurture responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds. Then, experience firsthand how nature journaling is a powerful tool for mindfulness and scientific inquiry. No artistic skills required!

Bio: The NHM Horticulture Team consists of six dedicated staff members who steward the Nature Gardens, each maintaining a distinct section of the landscape. Their work includes seasonal tasks such as pruning, planting, and seeding, alongside ongoing care like weeding and irrigation maintenance. Together, the team cultivates the gardens to support local wildlife, and to invite the public to engage with and to learn about native ecosystems in Los Angeles.

As part of this effort, Daniel Feldman (Senior Manager), Irene Eppard (Horticulturist), and Tate Tilles-Perrine (Program Manager/Horticulturist) will lead a tour of the Nature Gardens, helping participants develop a deeper familiarity with plant species native to Southern California.