Meet our Team

Director of Programing

Hello! My name is Nia!

I have a background in education and taught upper elementary for the last 5 years! I enjoy playing music, baking, learning how to garden and working with kids!

I am so excited to provide different ways for kids to learn and support local families!

Director of Operations
Hello! My name is Joyce.
My background is in the Health & Wellness field. I love spending time with my family, traveling, hiking, cooking, learning to garden and farm, and all things outdoors!
My two youngest children are homeschooling; I am excited to bring together programming that will inspire kids to learn about and appreciate our environment and spend more time in the great outdoors!

Our Mission

Our priority is promoting health and wellness for our children, families and community by connecting with the outdoors.

Our Vision

Our desire is to provide a space for families, children and individuals to build life skills by inspiring creativity, promote problem solving skills and understand your place in our natural habitat.

Our philosophy

By providing educational experiences and programs we are going to allow kids to initiate research based learning based on their personal interest about the natural world around us!

F A Q

When will Mountainside Nature center open?

Although we are still in the works of finishing this space, we are hoping to have our open house at the end July! This is a work in progress and we will keep updating to let everyone know our official dates, make sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

What is Mountainside Nature Center?

Mountainside is a new nature center located at Fort Ritchie, it is taking over the teen center located on the base. We want to

focus on promoting health and wellness to families and kids by helping others understand our local environment.

History of the Nature Center

The Mountainside Nature Center, originally building 521, was constructed in 1981. While this building is not part of our historic center at Historic Fort Ritchie, it was very special to the young people who grew up at the Fort. The original use of this building was as the Youth Activity Center, where the children of the Fort Ritchie soldiers could participate in youth-centered activities, whether organized educational activities or simply enjoying the playground that was once on site.