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On Sunday, April 14, the Noyo Center for Marine Science sponsored the annual meeting of the Mendocino Environmental Partners at the Noyo Center’s Field Station in the South Harbor. Each nonprofit group gave the audience a short update on their latest projects.
Then, Sue Coulter, the annual Matt Coleman Environmental Service Award winner, was announced and celebrated with warm accolades.
According to Michael Hicks, the Development Director of the Noyo Center for Marine Science, The Matt Coleman Award, over the past twelve or thirteen years, is given each year to the person “whose efforts on behalf of the environment have made a difference in our community.”
The award is particularly significant this year since Matt Coleman, the award’s namesake, was Coulter’s partner until he was murdered in 2011 when he was out working north of Fort Bragg for the Mendocino Land Trust.
Sue Coulter was the Noyo Center’s Education Coordinator until the end of March and taught environmental education for over twenty-five years.
According to Sheila Semans, Executive Director of the Noyo Center for Marine Science, “Sadly, the day we told Sue she had won the award was the same day she told us she was leaving!”
Coulter is known to thousands of appreciative children as “Sue Magoo.” One former student, in a video, honored her at the potluck and related the critical impact Coulter had on her through science learning when she was a girl.
Audience testimonials to Coulter focused on her deep connection to nature, her highly developed skills as a children’s educator, and her significant contributions to the Noyo Center’s educational team.
Some speakers described how she is lovingly recognized everywhere she goes, especially by adults who, as children, were once her students.
Coulter’s history goes back to when she led Point Cabrillo field trips, worked with home-schooled families, and conducted after-school programs.
Her association with the Noyo Center has been long, but she is now operating her own business, “Our Healing Nature,” a science education camp geared to children’s groups.
Coulter was initially trained to be an art teacher. “I always loved nature,” she said, “but I didn’t have anyone like me teaching in the schools to give me the idea that I could be a girl who studied nature.”
She continued, “What I realized after the fact was not that I wanted to teach art, but for me, art classes were the most engaging classes that I took in high school. My teacher inspired me, and I knew I wanted to teach.”
After moving to California, Coulter became involved in outdoor camps and saw that it was not about making art but making learning engaging. It was about “not stopping with the question but about going to figure it all out.”
This led Coulter to develop a home-schooling program in the Santa Cruz area, encouraged by parents who trusted her skills and abilities. She quickly learned to focus on the educational topics that “lit them up.”
She recalled, “I learned to follow their interests and pull out what I could around those interests.” It was about teaching to the moment.
Coulter said she learned much about teaching science from Pam Huntley’s Nature Day Camps. Later, she volunteered and trained at the Marine Mammal Center and took science classes at Mendocino College.
Coming to the Noyo Center meant learning about the ocean and developing lesson plans. With encouragement, she received online training to be certified as a California naturalist focusing on coastal areas and the ocean.
About winning the award, Coulter said it was always nice to be noticed, but for her the value lay in knowing ‘that there’s an impact I’m having people are seeing that.” She continued, “I get it most from the children I see over the years who ask, ‘Do you remember me?’”
She added, “I don’t necessarily remember their names, but I do remember their faces. Now they’re in middle school and going out of their way to say hello to me. That means a lot to me.”
Many of these students know Coulter from the dangerous plastics and trash educational unit that she and Sheila Semans developed with a grant from the California Coastal Commission. She hopes to bring the issue to the Fort Bragg City Council soon.
Coulter said her new business, Our Healing Nature, will continue what she has been doing. “I want to continue connecting kids with nature.”
Her model resembles a friend who brought eastern California kids here to be “submerged in coastal forests, pygmy forests, and science for four days.” It’s like what’s already going on but creating another opportunity that’s not specifically the woodlands.”
Coulter added, “Eventually, I want to have retreats because part of what got me through the loss of my partner Matt in 2011 was being in nature. There are a lot of people in troubled times in this country dealing with being human on the planet right now.”
Coulter points to her teaching experiences as what has been most meaningful to her. “The kids bring out a side of me that is very playful, alive, and excited,” she said. “When I’m teaching, I want to come across with enthusiasm and joy and be present.”
Kids remember enthusiasm. Coulter engages them in activities that make the science topic interesting. She explained, “I try to bring them enthusiasm, love, and appreciation for this beautiful planet that we have.”
Among the thoughts offered about Sue Coulter’s summer camps from the audience was that of the Noyo Center Executive Director Sheila Semans. “I have seen her impact very directly on my family,” she said. “That can probably be said for any kid that’s grown up in this town.”
Semans also spoke about the award’s namesake, Matt Coleman. She said, “He was an incredible person who lived here and worked his whole life for the environment. The award honors him and doubly impacts Sue because they were partners. I can’t be happier to give this award to Sue.”
Many audience members from other nonprofits noted that Coulter taught them how to relate to kids and project their deep love of nature. One person noted that Coulter “fills up the void of the great ones who passed before us.” Another person described her as “extraordinary.”
As Coulter accepted the award from Sheila Semans, the audience gave her a standing ovation. Coulter then spoke and honored her former partner as someone who had taught her a great deal about learning and reaching out to children.
“It’s been a long journey,” she said. She thanked the Noyo Center for “letting her grow” and expressed gratitude to the local nonprofit community for their support and for creating the culture that led to her work with children.
As a finale, Coulter led the audience in a vocal and physical imitation of a sea lion.
The Mendocino Environmental Partners is a loose association of the Noyo Center for Marine Science, the Mendocino Land Trust, the Mendocino Areas Parks Association, the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society, the Mendocino Botanical Gardens, and the DKY Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
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