Rhonda V. Phillips
Rhonda Phillips has dedicated her life to environmental education and community involvement in environmental stewardship. Raised in an Ontario family of Norwegian origin, she was immersed from an early age in the Scandinavian ethics modeled by the woodcutters, trappers, and commercial fishers in her immediate family.
Rhonda chose to remain in Saskatchewan after completing undergraduate degrees in biology and education at the University of Regina and began her teaching career in First Nations' and community schools at Cumberland House and in the Community College at Creighton. Her interactions with the aboriginal community and in particular their elders enriched her understanding and respect for the stewardship ethics of these people.
In 1985, Rhonda moved to Lumsden, where she has taught high school biology and advanced placement environmental science to thousands of young people over the past 20 years. During this time she has served as President of the Saskatchewan Outdoor and Environmental Educators Association (SOEEA), written curriculum support materials for sustainable forestry, introduced and chaired Science Fairs to her school division, and provided mentorship to the Lumsden High School students' outdoor and environment club.
Rhonda has a passion for environmental stewardship and an infectious enthusiasm for action projects that have captured the spirit and imagination of her students and their community. Since 1995, Rhonda's students have organized and delivered projects to establish shelterbelt plantings along Highway #11 between Regina and Lumsden, develop the Trans-Canada Trail between Lumsden and Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, and naturalize Lumsden's River Park.
Rhonda Phillips and some of her students survey the Lumsden school naturalization project.
Since 2002, Rhonda's grade 11 and 12 students have designed and developed a major naturalization project involving an area of approximately 2 ha adjacent to Lumsden High School. This project entailed students' planning and proposing the development to their School Division Board, raising approximately $20,000 for materials and equipment, planting native grasses and shrubs, and building an outdoor classroom accessible to disabled students and the community at large. This project has been prominently featured as a pioneering example in the Youth Forum on Sustainability program of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.
Rhonda has a strong belief that young people need first-hand experience in natural settings to develop an appreciation for environmental stewardship. Her students have undertaken extensive hikes through both the Grasslands National Park and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. Former students have credited their lifelong interest in working for a sustainable society in Saskatchewan to her influence. Students learn that they can make a difference by doing something themselves.
Rhonda also has an enduring appreciation for the importance of intergenerational cooperation to validate the stewardship ethic her students are developing and to encourage more environmentally responsible behaviour among adults in her community. This cooperation has been evident throughout the school grounds naturalization project, with numerous adult volunteers working alongside young people to transplant trees, seed native prairie grasses, and celebrate the ongoing success of this exciting project.
For more on the naturalization project see http://econet.sk.ca/eco-ed/lumsden.html.
Based on information submitted by Dave Phillips