Lighting the spark

Katie Mac Millen never stops teaching.

Even walking a short distance through a field with her can be an educational experience.

When someone in her group mentioned hibernation of an animal in spring, Mac Millen instantly became the teacher.

"Estivation is the way to go," she said.

Estivation, Mac Millen explained, is a relatively rare form of dormancy that is like hibernation but instead occurs in spring or summer, not the winter.

For good measure, she threw in some information about the Latin roots of the terms estivation - aestas, or spring - and hibernation, hiber, or winter.

Mac Millen is the recreation leader at Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park, southeast of New Port Richey. In that capacity, educating about nature in the 8,000-acre Pasco County-operated recreation area and nature preserve is her job.

But probably anyone participating in one of her activities will sense it is also her passion.

Mac Millen's job is varied, involving educational activities at both Starkey and special events. "Fun first and then educational" is the way Mac Millen sees her task.

Her job was created a year ago to offer an outdoor recreational program to the public, according to the Pasco parks and recreation director, Rick Buckman. It appears her bosses couldn't be happier. "Katie has initiated an absolutely wonderful program," Buckman observed.

At Starkey, she leads nature walks, does an intergenerational evening program and has a six-week, nine-hour-a day summer drop-off program for 7- to 13-year-olds.

She also organizes hands-on recreational activities.

It was one of those she was leading during her explanation about estivation.

Attendees consisted of seven home-schooler's and three of their mothers.

On that day, she developed a lesson about sea turtles.

After a discussion about the animal at the wilderness park's Starkey Environmental Education Center, in which she listened to the children as much as she talked, the class went to a nearby field for an activity in which each child represented either a species of sea turtle or a hazard the animals face. The field was sectioned off into areas the turtles had to cross to lay its eggs.

The children engaged in a spirited activity of sea turtles trying to make it to their nesting grounds and hazards trying to tag them.

Mac Millen tries to include similar hands-on learning in all her activities. "Every study I've ever read confirms that children who listen and watch retain far less than children who do," she explained.

The children were engaged throughout the activities. The moms appeared enthusiastic as well.

"She's wonderful," said Lynn Sweeney said of Mac Millen. "She knows how to keep them focused, knows how to keep them quiet when they're chatting. They respond to her very well."

Sweeney's daughter, Kyra, 12, recently took part in a learning activity at the center taught by Mac Millen.

Later, back at the center, where she has hung numerous posters representing aspects of nature, Mac Millen explained growing up in Palo Alto, Calif., she had been interested in nature "pretty much as soon as I could walk."

She sees her current job as one that helps both nature and people. "It's critical for people of all ages to be knowledgeable about the systems in biology and to love them so that they can appreciate them and make wise decisions."