Field Instructors are the heart of Muddy Sneakers expeditions. They spend their days exploring the outdoors alongside students and teachers, leading activities designed to expand scientific understanding, inspiring curiosity, and encouraging well-being and camaraderie.
CeCe Byrne is entering her second year with Muddy Sneakers. She had been looking for a career that would allow her to cultivate her own education while passing on knowledge to others when she found herself working at Rowan County Creek Week alongside a Muddy Sneakers team member.
They began talking about the importance of environmental stewardship and discussing ways to make the biggest impact in their own communities. The opportunity to directly influence the next generation of young people and promote an early love of nature as a Muddy Sneakers Field Instructor was exactly what she had been looking for.
“I think it’s important that kids connect to nature because nature will always be there! If you learn how to hike one trail, you can hike many trails. If you can identify one safe (or unsafe) plant, you can identify that plant everywhere you go! Having a connection to the environment offers so many important benefits beyond a healthy lifestyle. Not only do we physically feel better outside in the sunshine, but we also foster a love for the natural world around us, guiding future groundskeepers of NC.”
During expeditions, CeCe encourages students to really pay attention to their surroundings – not only to ensure they recognize the scientific processes happening all around them, but also as a practice in situational awareness.
“Nature teaches us to be observant, so we look high and low on the trail for wildlife tracks, spiderwebs, and low hanging branches or protruding roots that could hurt us if we aren’t aware. My hope is that they take those situational awareness skills, respect, and fondness for the environment everywhere they go.”
Not all students are excited by what they see and experience in nature’s classroom, though. CeCe remembers one child who was very hesitant initially. Once this student discovered the thrill of catching crawdads, she was hooked – asking questions and actively participating with her class.
“At the end of the day she told me it was her first time out in woods like that, and that she couldn’t wait to now explore the nature trail by her house with her parents.”
CeCe says it is moments like those that she finds most fulfilling.
“The best part of my job is seeing a kid who started the day totally afraid of nature, and then they have their ‘AHA’ moment, and they are completely different kids than when they started the day! It could be they found out they really do like frogs, or daddy long legs and now they are saving bugs on the trail or asking what kind of rock we found. That’s the best part, seeing someone’s spark of curiosity light up right before your eyes.”
“Knowing that the smallest magic moment in the field can have a life altering impact on my student’s relationship with the natural world around them fuels my drive to give every student their best day possible.”
More About CeCe
CeCe was born and raised in a New Jersey seaside town. She currently lives in the Piedmont of NC. She considers all of North Carolina as home, as she has yet to find a part of the state she hasn’t fallen in love with.
CeCe enjoys nature walks and is currently studying herbalism and ethical foraging. She loves to learn about the native plants in her neighborhood during walks with her dog and her partner. She also enjoys crafting with natural objects and says her porch is filled with sun catchers made from driftwood and sea-glass found during trips to the beach or along a waterfall’s edge!
