The Hope Summit is an annual conference and festival held in Charleston founded to create agency and hope through community-driven solutions. Director of the Barrier Island Program, Jared Crain, served on a Panel Discussion following the film screening of the documentary “In Our Nature”, which highlighted the importance of environmental education in the modern climate. During the discussion, Jared alongside other leaders in coastal environmental education spoke on the necessity of wonder and love in the outdoor classroom, the role of technology, how we ourselves as people are part of nature, and how food and shared meals play a part in environmental education. The screening and discussion sparked many more conversations on how we can best set up our next generations to steward our beloved home and its inhabitants!

Members of our Barrier Island Naturalist team - Rebecca Allen, Lillie Kochenderfer, and Kaitlyn Rainey - also attended and tabled at the Community Festival, connecting with like-minded programs and communing with leaders in education.

To watch a recording of the Panel Discussion, please visit the following link: https://vimeo.com/event/6194064/fd8f424a9a