Inspiring Leaders 2025

Each year, the Children & Nature Network awards the Richard Louv Prize for Innovation in Nature Connection. Through our nomination process, we are introduced to remarkable leaders who are working to connect children, families and communities to the benefits of nature. It is exciting to read about their work and how it is positively impacting children all over the world.  

We are honored to share some of 2025’s inspiring leaders and their stories in the article below. 

Jada Alexander
Founder & Executive Director, Daybreak Beach Club

As a young girl navigating personal challenges and racial hardships, Jada Alexander found herself drawn to the ocean as a source of peace and clarity — a place to explore, play and heal. In her telling, the waves, the sense of awe among surfers and the feelings of connection and safety became the foundation for her commitment to environmental stewardship.

The 21-year-old marine biologist is the founder of Daybreak Beach Club, which uses surf therapy, ocean-based STEM education and free gear to break down the barriers to ocean access — and help more young people access the benefits of nature. It aims to promote mental and emotional well-being, foster environmental stewardship and build a compassionate, connected community.

The organization has recently launched the Daybreak Rising Leaders Program, which aims to provide a pathway to environmental leadership for Black girls and women by providing the tools, mentorship and community support they need to lead. 

Read more about Jada’s story and the founding of Daybreak Beach Club

Luisa Avilés
Early Childhood Arts and Nature Integration Specialist

Luisa Avilés is helping children learn about nature — with their whole bodies. An early childhood educator based in the Washington, D.C.–Maryland region, she creates arts-integrated outdoor learning experiences that make environmental education more inclusive, joyful and accessible for children of all learning styles.

Since 2020, Avilés has partnered with Dance Exchange and Prince George’s County Public Schools to co-design and lead The Moving Field Guide, an immersive program for Title I schools that blends outdoor exploration with movement, storytelling, sensory engagement and environmental literacy. Through kinesthetic learning, students turn observations of nature into dance and gestures — creative expression that makes abstract ideas more memorable. The partnership has supported 40 teachers across 10 schools and reached hundreds of students.

Her work also extends nationally through partnerships with Out Teach and the California-based school garden organization, Life Lab, where she designs trainings that help educators weave nature into everyday teaching. By working with organizations deeply rooted in their communities, Avilés has built a model designed to last — one where teachers continue championing nature-based, arts-integrated learning long after the workshop ends.

Read more about Luisa Avilés 

Jacqueline Bennett
National Program Manager, Child & Nature Alliance of Canada

Jacqueline Bennett is transforming nature-based education in Canada by integrating Indigenous wisdom directly into outdoor learning curricula and training programs, drawing on her own Indigenous knowledge as well as others’. A trained early childhood educator and former director of Sapling Forest School, she now serves as Manager of National Programs at the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada, an organization with roots in Richard Louv’s “Last Child in the Woods.” In her role, she supports more than 40 facilitators who train educators, schools and organizations to connect children to the Land in meaningful ways.

Bennett embeds Indigenous leadership into Child & Nature Alliance training programs, requiring Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Sharers in every course, uplifting Indigenous languages and including a Personal Land Acknowledgement assignment that asks participants to examine their relationship to the Land and their role in reconciliation. Last year alone, the organization trained more than 450 educators, impacting thousands of children across schools and outdoor programs. This model provides a scalable approach to reconnecting communities with the Land and ensuring Indigenous wisdom continues to shape future generations.

It’s also influencing national policy. Working with advocates across Canada, Bennett has helped establish “promising practices” for forest and nature programs. Provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador are using those findings to create outdoor learning policies.

Connect with Jacqueline Bennett

Katie Egland Cox
Executive Director, Kaniksu Land Trust

Katie Egland Cox believes conservation works best when communities can actively learn from and enjoy the land. As Executive Director of the Kaniksu Land Trust in Idaho, she leads “Letting the Land Lead,” an approach that turns protected places into engines for education, health and community well-being.

Under her leadership, community spaces like Pine Street Woods — a 180-acre forest near Sandpoint — serve as year-round outdoor classrooms and free public recreation areas. These landscapes offer wheelchair accessible trails, hands-on science learning, stewardship activities and nature play while removing financial barriers to time outside.

At Kaniksu, Cox co-founded the ReWilding Education Partnership to increase nature-based learning in local public schools. She has also helped build partnerships with Tribal communities that bring Indigenous ecological knowledge into conservation education.

Her influence now extends beyond Idaho. Through leadership roles in regional and national land trust networks, Cox is helping other communities see conserved land as a public resource for equitable nature connection.

Read more about Katie Egland Cox

Karl Erickson
Founder, Urban Ice Anglers, and Youth Programs Manager, Elpis Enterprises

Karl Erickson is opening doors to nature for young people across Minnesota. A former teacher, he now serves as woodworking and youth programs manager at Saint Paul-based nonprofit Elpis Enterprises, where he provides job training and workforce development for young people ages 16 to 24 navigating housing instability and other challenges.

At Elpis, Erickson has also created two tuition-free outdoor programs for schools across the Twin Cities metro. Through the Land of 10,000 Diverse 4th Grade Birdwatchers project, more than 10,000 students have learned how birds act as pollinators, pest controllers, fertilizers and seed dispersers. Students practice identifying birds, then build bird feeders from recycled fence wood to take home with seed. One year later, 45% of surveyed students said they were still keeping those feeders filled.

He also launched the 10,000 Ice Anglers Project: In one winter alone, the effort partnered with 40+ agencies to bring more than 7,000 youth and adults to ice angling events. Heated fish houses — temporary shelters placed on frozen lakes for ice fishing — recently hosted speakers of 10 languages, helping ensure all Minnesotans felt welcome on the ice. 

Both projects entail significant collaboration with participating teachers, who advocate for their students and rally volunteer support to make the programs a reality. Today, Erickson awaits grant decisions which will enable the two projects to return for 2027-2030 school years and serve another 20,000+ youth.

Read more about Karl Erickson and the 10,000 Ice Anglers Project

Trevor Hall
Founder & Executive Director, Open Roads Academy

After years of leading outdoor travel programs for teenagers from wealthy backgrounds, Trevor Hall saw how wilderness experiences can foster mental health, social awareness and personal growth. He also grew to recognize that many young people from under-resourced communities did not have access to the same opportunities. 

In 2001, he founded Open Roads Academy to bring large-scale, awe-inspiring wilderness adventures to students from all backgrounds. The program also supports young adults in becoming ambassadors for nature connection and its many benefits at home in their communities.

Since then, Open Roads has grown from eight Boston high school students to more than 550 participants nationwide. The nonprofit partners with schools and youth organizations to design nature-based adventures tailored to serve the needs of their specific community. Programming can run from sixth grade through senior year, with Open Roads providing groups with everything from an adaptable roadmap to complete program implementation. 

Hall has also expanded the organization’s reach through innovative storytelling and community-building efforts, including the annual Open Roads Journal, short films and public events that promote the value of time spent outdoors.

Learn more about Trevor Hall and the story behind Open Roads Academy

Claire Latané
Founder & Director, Collaborative for Healthy and Inclusive Learning Environments

Some people change landscapes. Claire Latané changes how people see them. A designer, educator and author of “Schools That Heal: Design with Mental Health in Mind,” she has helped communities reimagine asphalt schoolyards as vital green infrastructure — with tree canopy, outdoor classrooms and gardens that support learning, mental health and climate resilience.

Through the Collaborative for Healthy and Inclusive Learning Environments (CHILE) at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she brings students, schools and community partners together to co-design greener, healthier campuses. CHILE studios have helped develop plans for dozens of school sites, introduced hundreds of landscape architecture students to community-led design and inspired millions in funding for green schoolyards. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Latané launched the Emergency Schoolyard Design Volunteers program, demonstrating how quickly outdoor learning spaces could be created when schools needed them most. More than 338 landscape design professionals helped 125 schools in 43 states transform their grounds. The initiative also trained hundreds of educators to use outdoor spaces to support hands-on learning and student well-being, helping schools see green schoolyards as lasting investments.

Read more about Claire Latané

Martin Ogle
Founder, Geo sapiens

For more than four decades, Martin Ogle has helped people discover that time outdoors can shape not only how we live, but how we work. Previously, as an award-winning Chief Naturalist for the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, he facilitated outdoor learning and recreational experiences for more than 400,000 children and adults, expanding access to nature-based education for populations that have traditionally been underserved.

Today, through his Colorado-based ALL Careers Approach to Education (more information here), Ogle connects outdoor experiences and environmental learning to every kind of profession, from business and construction to health care and public service. The idea is to teach young people that caring for the planet should not solely be the work of scientists and park rangers. Whatever kids hope to become in life, sustainability can be part of that future. Recent projects in Colorado have paired habitat restoration with visits to local businesses, helping students see how environmental principles show up in real communities.

Ogle’s work has earned honors in Virginia and Colorado for innovation in education and sustainability. Through his new nonprofit, Geo sapiens, he integrates environmental education, energy education and job readiness, and expands his work on the ALL Careers approach.

Learn more about Martin Ogle and Geo sapiens

Jai Sharma
Founder, Muddy Lessons

Jai Sharma is using education as a tool for conservation across India and beyond. A National Geographic certified educator, ornithologist and conservationist, his work spans from hands-on environmental learning to biodiversity assessments and eco-volunteerism.

Through Muddy Lessons, an India-based startup focused on nature education and sustainability training, Sharma has helped thousands of children and families build deeper connections with the natural world. The organization offers nature camps, trails, workshops and school programs rooted in its mission of “conservation through education.”

Sharma also advises NGOs and public agencies on protecting and restoring natural spaces, including wildlife and biodiversity surveys, water conservation projects and tree planting schools, parks and public spaces. He has also supported citizen efforts to protect lakes and forests from encroachment, including the Hessarghatta Lake Grasslands in Bengaluru.

Learn more about Jai Sharma and Muddy Lessons

Maureen (Mo) Stine
Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind

Maureen (Mo) Stine is expanding access to the outdoors in Michigan. Based in northern Michigan, she works with Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind, a program that helps children and young adults who are blind or have low vision build life skills, confidence and independence. Through year-round, hands-on environmental education and guided forest bathing sessions, Stine helps participants experience forests, waterways and outdoor recreation in ways designed for accessibility and joy.

Over the past decade, she has led multisensory programs ranging from watershed float trips to interactive lessons on wildlife habitats and water systems, helping participants experience environmental learning through touch, sound and movement. For example, to make an ice fishing trip accessible for young campers, she used bells on tip-ups, tactile demonstrations of fish strikes and hands-on lessons in gear use and ice safety.

As a curriculum designer, Stine has partnered with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Forestry and Fisheries divisions, Michigan State University Extension, and the Traverse City Botanic Garden to create public programs and educational resources used across the state. Her work encourages young blind and low-vision Michiganders to become outdoor leaders, stewards and future natural resource professionals.

Learn more about Maureen Stine
Read a Finding Nature News story authored by Maureen Stine

You may discover more Inspiring Leaders from previous years here.

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