Lillian Ledford

Lillian Ledford smiles at a baby snapping turtle.

Lillian has been a member of the Blandy Education Department since September of 2011. As a field-based Environmental Educator she uses a constructivist approach when facilitating curriculum-centered outdoor investigations with preK – high school students and educator professional development both on-site and throughout the region. Her background in classroom-based public school instruction helps bridge connections between school-based learning and student field experiences. She also is driven to understand the systemic connections among concepts in the context of her own learning, a perspective that manifests in her teaching.

In 2004 Lillian completed a James Madison University Bachelor of Science Degree in Anthropology and Art History with a concentration in archaeology and material culture. After working in the field of archaeology and then as the Adult Programming and Volunteer Coordinator at the Wintergreen Nature Foundation, she realized that her interests lay in education. By 2008 she had earned her Postbaccalaureate Elementary Education Teaching License from Mary Baldwin University (MBU), and is currently completing coursework for MBU’s Environment-Based Learning Masters in Education program.

Growing up roaming the mountain forests of central Virginia, at a young age Lillian developed a driving curiosity about the natural world that was nurtured by the adults around her. She has also always been interested in how human minds develop, function, and communicate. This life-long enthusiasm for learning, and a passion for sharing discoveries, blends with her need to make positive changes in the world, making education a perfect field for her interests.

Outside of Blandy, Lillian extends her interest in the interactions between human and natural systems through participation in a variety of educational, professional, and service organizations.

When not engaged in professional pursuits, Lillian loves learning more about ecology and other natural sciences, foraging, playing outside, and exploring the anthropology of art and cuisine!

“We can’t really understand something until we get our hands dirty in an effort to know it.”