MAEOE Welcomes Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers, Maurie Kathan and William Mahoney as Maryland Green School Organizers

Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE)

Welcomes Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers, Maurie Kathan and William Mahoney as Maryland Green School Organizers

Maurie Kathan and William Mahoney are two of the sixteen young adults which comprise the inaugural class of Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers. Modeled after the Peace Corps and Americorps programs, Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers are paired with watershed groups, non-profit organizations and government agencies for one year to work on a variety of programs – all with the singular goal of restoring the health and balance of the Chesapeake Bay.

“These Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteers are future leaders. However, rather than the future being, well, in the future, for these young, bright, committed emerging leaders – the future is now” stated Bronwyn Mitchell, MAEOE Executive Director.

In its charter volunteers will be focusing their time and talents on restoration and environmental education – specifically increasing the number of Maryland Green Schools. Though the growth of Maryland Green Schools has been significant, the growth is uneven. Both William and Maurie will be helping to grow Maryland Green Schools in areas of the state where the number of Maryland Green Schools is lagging. Maurie will be working out of MAEOE Headquarters in Jessup focusing on the central, north and western parts of the state while William, working with Maryland Coastal Bays Program will be focused on the Eastern Shore.

When asked what motivated her to apply to the program, Maurie explained, “As a student in Montgomery County Public Schools, I received a strong Bay ecology education. In fourth grade part of the curriculum involved monitoring our local stream, the Little Falls Branch. It was thrilling to hunt through the net and find crayfish and many other micro and macro organisms. Unfortunately, over the past 15 years because of problems associated with stormwater runoff and sewage overflow, the creek has died. Working as a Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteer with MAEOE’s Maryland Green School Program, I hope to effect change and bring back an environment where fourth graders living on the edge of Washington DC can find crayfish in their local stream.”