Southeast alumni J.D. Tanner and Emily Ressler of Denver, Colo., came full circle in their careers as Traveling Trainers for ‘Leave No Trace’ when they came back to Southeast to work with Dr. Tom Holman’s Outdoor Recreation class on the importance of outdoor ethics.
J.D. and Emily held a workshop instructing students through interactive games and activities on outdoor ethics and testing their knowledge on biodegradable refuse.
The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and inspiring responsible outdoor recreation through education, research and partnerships. Leave No Trace builds awareness, appreciation and respect for our wildlands.
“We just started on March 18 of this year with Leave No Trace. We went to Boulder, Colorado, where we did two weeks of training," J.D. said. "Working with Dr. Holman is our first event. We planned it this way that we were at Southeast first. We knew Dr. Holman from when we were at Southeast. I taught the same time he did.”
Emily says, “We’ve gone on trips with him and taught rock climbing and mountaineering classes for him. Recreation is about meeting people and networking, making those connections, so it was cool to come full circle and come back to Southeast.”
While at Southeast, J.D. earned his bachelor of science degree in outdoor recreation and participated in the Recreation Club. He also had the opportunity to lead outdoor recreation courses at Southeast while working on his master's of education in recreation degree from Southern Illinois University.
Emily graduated in 2003 from Southeast with a general studies degree focusing in education, biology and outdoor recreation. After graduation, she stayed involved in Southeast’s recreation program by leading outdoor adventure trips and teaching rock climbing clinics and courses.
Emily also earned a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University in recreation resource administration. She worked as a graduate assistant for Disabled Student Recreation and had the opportunity to coordinate and develop outdoor adventure programs and trips, including whitewater rafting, camping and adaptive skills.
J.D. and Emily say, “We met our last semester that we were at Southeast while doing an internship at the recreation center. We were leading a trip down the Appalachian trail.”
While in Cape Girardeau, “we took a few classes out to hike a lot at Trail of Tears. I also taught back packing and rock climbing class at Southeast," J.D. said. "During orientation week, I have done mountain biking and trips around town. Most of the time, we went to Giant City (Ill.) for rock climbing.”
Both J.D.'s and Emily's love of working with children and teaching outdoors ethics comes from a combination of their educational experience at Southeast. Both started out as education majors and then found their true calling in outdoor recreation. They say the opportunity to educate and promote environmental ethics outside of the classroom was a major part of their career choice.
“With Leave No Trace, we get to work with kids and teach in a non-traditional setting,” Emily says.
J.D. added, “Working with ‘Leave No Trace’ gives us the opportunity to share with people exactly how leaving this and that behind in the outdoors can really effect our environment.”
Emily says, “We’re able to teach people about outdoor ethics and the environment and, hopefully, then they’ll make their own decisions about things like pulling leaves off trees, putting their gum on trees, or cutting through grass to create shortcuts. Hopefully it’ll just click at some point.”
When asked about favorite places they’ve visited, J.D. is quick to respond, “We were able to teach a course at Como Lake in the mountains of southeast Colorado. At Como Lake, there are there 14,000-foot mountains that we went up, and we were able to camp out with a class. We were about 11,000 feet above sea level where we taught about mountaineering.”
Emily’s advice for future Southeast students is to “remember the time you’re in college is short. Make the best of it and have fun but work on your academics too. Have fun and enjoy.”
J.D. recommends getting "to know your faculty and your advisors because it’s really important to make those connections. A lot of people just cruise through but it’s important to make connection and work hard. Education is the key to everything.”
For more information about ‘Leave No Trace’ and how you can be informed on environmental ethics visit http://www.lnt.org.