Photo by Wanda Hanson
ANCA (Association of Nature Center Administrators) has chosen Colleen Foehrenbacher, executive director of Eagle Bluff Learning Center, for their Outstanding New Leader Award. This national award is given to a person holding the highest role at their association for less than five years.
Colleen has worked at Eagle Bluff for 14 years; she took on the position of executive director on April 1, 2020. Yes, Colleen took over on April Fools’ Day in the midst of the COVID lockdown and succeeded the founder of Eagle Bluff as its executive director!
As the new executive director, Colleen had to totally flip the way things were done. Before COVID, 80% of the revenue came from programs; with the lockdown, 80% of the revenue needed to come from fundraising. In order to accomplish that, Colleen needed to be resourceful.
She applied for Paycheck Protection Program Funds and discovered that most nonprofit Outdoor Schools would qualify for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant through SBA. Colleen shared that information with the four other Outdoor Schools in the state.
As a result, Eagle Bluff and two other Minnesota Outdoor Schools received almost a million dollars which allowed them to keep their doors open and maintain their staffs. One of the other schools said of Colleen, “Colleen, you’re the cloud that keeps raining money!”
COVID allowed Colleen the chance to assess her new position. As Jenna Moon, education director of Eagle Bluff said in her nomination letter, “She made the decision to keep the staff engaged and pivot to new opportunities.” Colleen made sure Eagle Bluff continued its public programming.
“I came in with new eyes and was employee centric,” Colleen commented. Knowing that the staff recharges by getting outside, she focused on PTO time, mental health, and a paid ½ day off for mental health. Since becoming the executive director, she has instituted a performance review connected to rewards for good work. Most of the staff returns to Eagle Bluff each year under her leadership.
Eagle Bluff and Fillmore Central’s Headstart have partnered since the fall of 2020 to offer a Nature Preschool. Headstart moved to Eagle Bluff and continues to operate there. There are no other programs in the entire country like this; the class has a smaller student to teacher ratio of 4:1.
Other programs offered by Eagle Bluff include outdoor school with both overnight trips and day use for schools, summer and family camps and team building activities as well as public events such as high ropes challenges and rock climbing.
Eagle Bluff is the only Outdoor School south of the Twin Cities. Colleen wants to expand the reach more in this geographical area with a renewed focus on community. Currently, the average yearly attendance is 14,000 students who come from an area within two hours of travel time. It serves Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota with its overnight programs.
Colleen writes lots of grants to keep kids in the programs. She wants all students to have access to outdoor education — city kids, rural kids and underprivileged kids.
As a member of the Minnesota Outdoor School for All Collaborative, Colleen works to help pass legislation so every Minnesotan student will be able to experience an overnight Outdoor School trip.
“Our state prides itself on its outdoor ethic — we have a lot of amazing resources that can be accessed!” Colleen pointed out. “We need positive outdoor experiences for all students.”
Colleen feels her best accomplishment was pulling the organization through financially and coming out of COVID reinvented. She feels that she now needs to focus on renewed fundraising. Eagle Bluff is approaching its 50th year — Colleen wants it to carry on for another 50 plus years while expanding its reach.
Eagle Bluff has been in partnership with Hamline University for environmental education fellowships for 15 years. The fellows come for a year and work with staff, learning about outdoor education in a real world application. Colleen shared that she’d love to expand working with more classroom teachers to be more comfortable in teaching outdoor education, but at this time it’s a capacity issue.
Colleen acknowledges that Eagle Bluff needs to dedicate more time to grow public events for the community. She calls it a feeder program and notes that she wants Eagle Bluff to be a resource for the local community.
To point out the impact Eagle Bluff has on students, Colleen told of a time when she was teaching an outdoors GPS navigation course where she took kids into the woods to find their way out. A sixth grader shared, “It was so much fun just to be hanging out and talking with my friends and not on our phones!”
Another student commented, “I just feel better — I’m not stressed!”
Colleen spoke of another instance when she was on a Zoom call with citizens and elected officials about the continuation of a share of lottery funds going to environmental centers. A young woman commented that she had gone to Eagle Bluff as a sixth grader and that’s what had gotten her into her environmental work as an adult. Colleen wants to continue to educate young people to support and care for their outdoor environment.
Colleen will officially receive her Outstanding New Leader Award at the ANCA Overnight camp and Outdoor School Summit which will be held in January at North Bay in Northeast Maryland. Jen Levy, executive director of ANCA (Association of Nature Center Administrators) called Colleen Foehrenbacher “a dedicated leader with a commitment to excellence that is evident in the success of Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center.”
Congratulations, Colleen, on your well-deserved award!
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