Helping youth and educators find their stories and make a difference.

Erica has worked directly with students and youth in many communities, offering classroom and in-the-field programs as well as youth leadership training and seminars. She has also worked with educators from Walden Pond to Yosemite.

Youth Leadership

Being able to communicate what we care about and why is a core competency for making a difference in the world. Erica’s simple yet powerful framework helps youth discover, define and express their individual sense-of-place stories. Erica’s programs help students and youth find their personal sense of place stories, which they can apply in their life and academic work.

✓ Experience a process that helps to gain a sense of place and belonging anywhere.
✓ Integrate academic knowledge with personal experience.
✓ Explore why having a sense of place inspires stewardship and sustainability.

✓ Bridge studies in the creative arts, history, natural history and social science

Includes presentation, hands-on interactive experiences and collaborative work. Customized for all age groups

Work with Erica: In your classroom or in-the-field.

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Nurture the Next Generation

Everyone has stories of belonging. These programs help youth find their personal/place stories wherever they are.

Story to
Stewardship Seminars

Learn the art of using stories to inspire change, and keep ourselves inspired and recharged. Because facts change minds, and stories change hearts.

Youth Leadership
Intensives

Erica’s framework helps youth discover, define and express their individual sense-of-place stories to create songs, stories, performances and more.


Professional Development for Educators

From the “Approaching Walden” Seminar at the Thoreau Institute, Lincoln, MA

Erica has been a repeat presenter at professional development seminars for educators, from the Walden Woods Project “Approaching Walden” Seminar to educators at the Teton Science School. Her customized programs help educators recharge their connection to themselves and their work, as well as gain practical tools they can apply to the classroom right away.

Reimagine your curriculum while getting a personal and professional recharge.

Prior Conferences and Seminars for Educators

  • Georgia Environmental Educators Conference

  • Massachusetts Environmental Education Society

  • New England Environmental Education Alliance

  • The Murie Center

  • Teton Science School

Prior Youth and Academic Programs:

Youth Leadership

  • Appalachian Trail Conservancy

  • Trustees of Reservations

  • World Wide Walden Youth Summit, The Walden Woods Project

  • Wyoming Youth Congress on Children and Nature

  • Young Writers and Artists Festival, Hathaway Brown School

  • Youth Conservation Corps

  • Youth Leadership Academy, New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park

Academic

Undergraduate & Graduate

  • Antioch New England Graduate School, NH (Seminar)

  • Mount Holyoke College Center for the Environment

  • Paul Smiths College

  • Sterling College

  • Teton Science School

  • Washington University

K- 12

  • All Saints' Episcopal Day School

  • Four Rivers Charter School

  • Journeys School

  • Sterling Community School,

  • Thoreau Institute

Kind Words

"With its emphasis on integrating writing, music, and a sense of place, Erica's workshop was incredibly inspiring... [She] gave us all an invaluable opportunity to reflect on our connections to the land, our personal history, and our best selves."  Faculty Director, University of Vermont, VT

“Erica has an impressive versatility. Her warm personality and knowledge of her subject matter gave our students a gift: she empowered them to express themselves and connect to the land in a way many of them had never experienced before." Margot Martin, Journeys School, (K-12) Jackson, WY

"Using Erica Wheeler's ideas, I developed writing prompts incorporating nature. These were some of the best writing prompts I have ever used. The students were excited, had vast amounts to write about, freely expressed their thoughts without fear of right or wrong, and made a connection to nature/place and themselves." Saratoga Elementary School, Saratoga, WY

 "Erica magically turned each students poetry into a folk song which she sang beautifully and spontaneously in the classroom. Students were mesmerized by her talent and eagerly shared their creative writing in the class.” All Saints Episcopal Day School, Carmel, CA

Student Reflections:

"We learned valuable lessons about writing and poetry. I now feel inspired to write about things like nature. I truly appreciate the landscape around us.”

"I have a deeper connection to nature and my roots than I knew before."

"I will use what I have gained to continue making connections in my community and initiating a positive change."

"Your music inspired me to write. Your workshop allowed me to open my mind and put my feelings on paper. Your visit helped me realize the connection between nature, music and writing.”

“I will use what I have gained to continue making connections in my community and initiating a positive change.”
— Participant, Youth Conservation Corps
“She helped [students] bring together all their ways of knowing, so they could better understand their relationship to place.”
— Tim Farnham, Director of the Center for the Environment, Mount Holyoke College, MA
“We learned valuable lessons about writing and poetry. I now feel inspired to write about things like nature. I truly appreciate the landscape around us.”
— Student

Presentation, songs, interactive experiences, and writing/story process + support for sharing/creating stories. Erica begins with an inspiring program of place-based arts (song, story, visual art) to explore the connections between people and place, nature, history and culture. She then facilitates a discussion about how personal connections inspire stewardship, connection and belonging. Afterward, she leads students through a hands-on process to create, develop and share their own stories. Erica often creates a “song on the spot” by gathering insights and experiences from the students, which is a fun inspiring example for everyone to be a part of.