Longtime R.B. Winter educator looks back on memorable career

Longtime R.B. Winter State Park outdoor educator Maryann Halladay Bierly has advice for those concerned about the addictive dangers of technology on a younger generation already losing touch with their natural surroundings.

Be a mentor.

“Getting people outdoors to explore and really get out of their comfort zone requires someone to lead them,” she said. “It doesn’t need to be someone who can identify every bird call or rattle off the names of every tree you come to — it can be a parent or a grandparent or an uncle or even an older brother or sister. It needs to be someone who has a vested interest, who can engage the child and help them take a moment to really look at what is around them. You can find nature in the middle of New York City if you take the time to look.”
Being an outdoors mentor has been at the core of Bierly’s 36-year career at R.B. Winter State Park — a tenure that will come to a close at her June 23 retirement.

“For the past 14 or so years, our family has been blessed to attend the homeschool educational programs held by Maryann,” said Melissa Dillman, of Middleburg. “She has a way of engaging children to learn all aspects of nature through games, projects, films, crafts and walks. Her clear passion for all things nature is infectious. As a parent, I’ve learned as much as my four children have.”

An appreciation for the outdoors was developed early for Maryann.

“My whole family was into hunting, fishing, camping and gardening. It was my dad’s life, and since I was an only child, it became my life. I found I was happiest in the outdoors,” she said. “When in college, my outdoors experiences broadened — it went beyond the hook-and-bullet culture of central Pa. into a new realm of backpacking, caving and canoeing.”

After graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a bachelors degree in biology, she worked a few jobs before taking a seasonal position with R.B. Winter State Park in May of 1981. In Sept. of 1996 after the educational center was completed and dedicated, she was hired full-time.

“It started out more as programming for the campground, but it evolved quite a lot over time. Before long, I was in charge of festivals. We did our first snow festival in 1997 as a way to get people out to the park in the dead of winter,” she said. “Other parks had success with similar programs based on snowmobiling or sledding events. But it usually catered to the dog sledders or cross country skiers — we wanted a program that was more family friendly.”

Outside of developing numerous festivals and special events at the park, Maryann said she loved connecting with kids in both public school and homeschool activities.

“Public school programs were always fun — it was nice to have kids come out to the park who may not have much outdoor experience. They’d come out with preconceived notions that there were crocodiles in the lake and a bear behind every tree. We’d do our best to calm those fears and inspire their outdoor passion,” she said. “Those kids would go home and tell their parents about our park, and we started seeing more families come out. It was a great advertisement for us.”

Creativity and flexibility were two reasons she especially enjoyed her programs for homeschool families.

“Being a full-time employee, I learned to love the homeschool community’s ability to come out to programs in January when the wind was blowing and the snow was flying when public schools couldn’t make it out,” she said. “Plus, it was much easier to reschedule an event with homeschoolers who can be much more flexible in scheduling.”

Her longstanding bonds with numerous families will stay with her well beyond retirement.

“I got to know some families very well. I was just invited to a graduation party from a young man who I’ve gotten to know and have a good bond with his family. I can say that about many of our homeschool families,” she said. “It really means a lot to know that I was one of the mentors that helped touch their children’s lives.”

One event that Maryann said was especially memorable at R.B. Winter State Park was when she planning programming for kids from 48 states and five Canadian provinces who were visiting the region for the national Envirothon competition in 2012.

“They were some of the most impressive kids I’ve ever met. They were extremely humble and wanted to learn,” she said. “It was a nightmare to plan, but turned out to be one of the most interesting moments of my life. Those kids helped inspire us that there is hope out there for the future of our environment and natural resources.”

After retirement, Maryann plans to spend more time with her family.

“I have a lot of gardens, and will take more time to enjoy them, do some reading on the front porch, play with the cats and savor the time with my grandson and the rest of the family,” she said. “We’re trying to shift some things to have more freedom, get more time to travel and I want to spend some time with my mom while she is still healthy and we can really enjoy time together.”

As for her final piece of advice for the families and students she inspired?

“It is a quote from a poster that hangs on a wall at my home from a poem,” she said. “‘Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.’”