The Jasper National Park Palisades Education Centre has been providing hands-on education opportunities to youth from K – Grade 12 for over a decade. Based out of the historic Palisades Ranch in Jasper National Park, an Education Team offer place-based, curricular and credit programs, in partnership with the Grande Yellowhead School Division and Ski Marmot Basin.
Sanne Van Der Ros (B.Ed, MA in Environmental Education and Communications) has worked for Parks Canada at the Palisades Centre for four years. She has taught environmental and outdoor education programs for students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 for twenty years at outdoor centres, private and public schools, and in the nonprofit and government sectors. She has also led teacher professional development workshops at regional, provincial and national environmental education conferences for over a decade, enabling teachers to connect their students to nature and the outdoors in meaningful ways.
Marian McGraw holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Simon Fraser University with a minor in Environmental Education, and two degrees from the University of Victoria; a Bachelor’s of Arts and Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, both with Distinction. She worked for two years as an English Language teacher in France and Spain, and as an Interpreter in Jasper National Park and the Royal BC Museum. She spent three sessions working at the Vimy Ridge National Historic site in France, interpreting the site for the public. Some of her favourite memories are of family trips to national parks and she is a strong believer in their ability to connect classroom studies to the greater world.