Pets Lifeline educator earns teaching certificate from The Humane Society
This school year, Mary Green of Pets Lifeline is reaching Sonoma Valley’s youngest citizens with lessons in kindness to animals, people, and the environment. Green received her Certified Humane Education Specialist credentials from Humane Society University, an affiliate of The Humane Society of the United States and The HSUS’s Student Outreach program.
Mary Green, who has been a fixture in the Sonoma Valley schools, often visiting with her own special needs cat, Flopsy, plans to continue and expand her visits to classrooms and develop programs in the local schools such as dog and cat safety, feral cats, and animal nutrition. In addition, Green developed and runs the very popular Humane Education Summer Camp each year at Pets Lifeline, impacting hundreds of kids and the thousands of animals they will come in contact with over the course of their lifetimes.
“I am committed to staying current with new trends and ideas,” said Green explaing why she decided to pursue the certification. “My decades of experience is focused on primary schoolers so this program helped me expand my knowledge of humane education for preschoolers and middle school students. In addition, I am now able to present workshops to teachers on this subject. Most importantly, our community’s teachers today are stressed with testing and meeting both state standards and character education goals – Humane Education programs can help teachers meet these requirements.”
The Certified Humane Education Specialist (CHES) credentialing program is a series of certificate courses that guide participants in setting the foundation for an effective humane education program. The courses focus on working with community and school groups to promote humane education and youth clubs. Course content is based on academic research, and courses are centered on engaging activities with a wealth of practical tips and field-tested strategies for working with students in grades K-12, school faculty, and youth leaders.
