Stories from Supporters: Katrina

Leading up to Missoula Gives, the Watershed Education Network brings you reflections from former volunteers, teachers, staff, and long-time friends of the organization. They share the impact WEN's programs have had on them and how our mission matches their values. Here, a wonderful volunteer of ours shares her thoughts and reflections on her time with WEN.

By Katrina Thorness

What first drew you to WEN?

December 14, 2017 was the first day I stepped into WEN’s office. I had won a telescope from a raffle at Montgomery Distillery, which had hosted WEN for a Moscow Monday community night. Walking into WEN’s office sparked joy in my heart. There was so much life, art, color—and the warmest welcome from one bubbly Deb. I recall thinking, “This looks like a good place to work. I want to work in a place like this.” Later that night, I told my partner about my day and mused aloud, “I wonder if WEN would ever need somebody like me.” Fortune followed. That spring, one of my courses required logged volunteer hours, and the Professor had listed WEN as a qualifying option. I took it as a sign. Those spring volunteer hours led to a summer internship, which led to a part-time position. Reflecting on this time, I realize that I’m not sure what first drew me to WEN: a sense of belonging—or fate.

Why is WEN’s mission important to you? 

Ideally, a mission statement should “bestow an aura of being endowed with a sense of purpose—the agency is charged with an important public mission, achieving it responds to urgent needs, and past achievements are known.” Charles Goodsell, Mission Mystique: Belief Systems in Public Agencies (2010). In my mind, WEN’s mission statement checks all of these boxes. Further, WEN’s mission statement endows me with a strong sense of purpose.

Working for WEN, I knew that each task I completed helped children make it to Rattlesnake Creek, the Clark Fork River, or a wetland.  As a child, being outside calmed my heart. As an adult, I now know that these experiences can foster attachment, which provides the secure base needed to explore, learn, and relate. Through WEN’s mission to foster knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of watershed health through citizen science, youth and school engagement, and outreach to our communities, WEN is not only promoting our environment’s health—WEN is building resiliency in our children. This in itself is of vital public health importance.

Ultimately, WEN’s mission is important to me because I want children to feel valued and experience the bountiful benefits of being outside with educators and mentors. I believe that this attachment will motivate children to seek the outdoors and serve as environmental stewards in their adulthood.

Do you find hands-on science or outdoor education more engaging than standard science curriculum or in-class school?

My opinion is that hands-on science—outside—is more engaging than learning inside. Through WEN, I have experienced the difference and witnessed children and adults thrive from outdoor learning labs. 

You can help WEN provide more hands-on outdoor science education for students of all ages by donating to WEN on Missoula Gives, May 6 & 7, 2021:

https://www.missoulagives.org/organizations/the-watershed-education-network