Shelby Collins

I grew up in the Beaverton area and had a childhood shaped by spending most days outside with friends and my older sisters, exploring and making forts in the woods near my house, playing multiple sports, and spending time with our family's pet rabbits. After high school, I went to Western Oregon University to study Earth Science and Environmental Studies, and started working at the Tualatin Hills Nature Center during the summers, and I still work there 20 years later (we love when GIS visits)! After trying a few different career paths in the environmental field, I returned to teaching again and again because I felt fulfillment in getting kids excited about learning through hands-on experiences and supporting their natural curiosity about the world around them. I started working in after school education in 2010 and love the freedom of getting to adapt what we're learning and the activities we do to the interest and needs of the kids. My extended care teaching goals through the years have evolved into a main focus of being a positive and stable mentor and making sure students feel cared about, safe, and to help create a space where they all feel like they can be themselves and belong.