Hawai‘i Nature Center returns to Maui, names Rachael Taylor its new Maui Program manager

Rachael Taylor, an alumna of Seabury Hall in Makawao, has been named as the new Maui Program manager of the Hawai‘i Nature Center, which fosters environmental education and offers volunteer opportunities on O‘ahu and Maui.

In her new role, Taylor will oversee and advance school partnerships and intercession camps with a focus on building community relationships, teaching and mentoring students, and using nature to create lasting learning experiences.

Taylor has more than a decade of experience in non-profit education. Her previous roles involved managing a team of outdoor educators and leading efforts to teach students about their natural environment in Colorado.

For the next few months, she will be assessing community needs, collaborating with local organizations and redesigning Hawai‘i Nature Center’s (HNC) programs to serve Maui’s keiki and families.

“Coming home to Maui is a dream come true,” said Taylor, who was raised on Maui and has lived in Colorado since 2011. “Reinvesting my career on Maui to advance children’s education and engagement in nature is an incredible opportunity. Our goal is to take our popular school and camp programs and make them more accessible to the island as a whole with a mobile model.”

Taylor graduated from Seabury Hall in Makawao, Maui and earned a bachelor’s in environmental studies from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.

For more than two decades since 1992, HNC maintained a center in ‘Īao Valley. It is transitioning to a “mobile” program model to bring its programs closer to schools and the students it aims to reach. The nonprofit is currently identifying and utilizing field study sites island-wide that can serve as outdoor learning laboratories to make its programs more accessible to schools across the island.

For more information about HNC and its programs, email hncinfo@hawaiinaturecenter.org, visit www.hawaiinaturecenter.org, or follow on Facebook at facebook.com/HINatureCenter.