Julie Wolfe

A teacher for 22 years, Julie Wolfe is a leader in introducing environmental education to her urban public school district, where over 65 percent of the population qualifies for free/reduced lunch, and families have limited access to safe outdoor spaces. She has created a myriad of outdoor education programs. For example, she designed and maintains the school native plant and vegetable garden; started 
a school-wide recycling program; created Science Inquiry kits filled
 with tools for students to observe 
and record their findings in the outdoor environment; and connects elementary students to a local high school environmental program, with the elementary students introducing 
it in turn to kindergarteners. She
 has taken her students on field trips 
to local parks and nearby redwood groves. Partnering with Nature Bridge, an educational partner of the National Park Service, and engaging in significant fundraising so that all could attend, she led her school’s fourth-graders on a two-night experience in Yosemite National Park, which few had ever seen despite it being relatively nearby. Her nominators say, “she stands out as a pioneer in integrating, and in rendering more accessible, the gifts of environmental education.”