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The education coordinator at Valley Humane Society has been selected by a national animal education nonprofit as its 2017 Humane Educator of the Year.
Emily Taylor has been the Valley Humane education coordinator since August 2016. Her work integrating humane science teaching tools into the society’s summer camps led to the recognition from the Pennsylvania-based organization Animalearn.
“We are proud to honor Emily Taylor as our Humane Educator of the Year because of her commitment to teaching empathy and compassion to the youth in her community,” said Nicole Green, director of Animalearn.
Before coming to Valley Humane, Taylor taught elementary students in New York and east San Jose.
The Valley Humane’s newly developed summer camps — or “Critter Camps,” as they’re dubbed — are designed for children and adolescents interested in working with animals. The camps serve over 75 students every year, offering young people opportunities to explore animal-related careers and hobbies.
Students are divided up according to age. In the Humane Heroes camp, for teens 13 to 15, they discuss how humans’ everyday choices affect other creatures and ways to avoid harming animals, including in the realm of academic and experimental animal dissection, or vivisection.
“Many of our campers are initially unaware, not only of the many available alternatives to dissection and other uses of animals, but that these alternatives are often academically superior,” Taylor said. “After attending Humane Heroes, students are empowered to pursue their education in any subject, at any level, without causing unnecessary suffering.”
For curriculum, Taylor reached out to Animalearn, the educational division of the American Anti-Vivisection Society. The organization hosts a free curriculum loan program called The Science Bank, which supplies educators with science products that can be used to teach anatomy, physiology and psychology without harming animals.
“One of my goals is to empower students to pursue their education in any subject, at any level, without causing unnecessary suffering,” Taylor said. “The Science Bank helps us demonstrate the many academically superior alternatives to hatching projects and other uses of animals, creating a brighter future for us all.”
Thank you! Find out more about Valley Humane Society’s youth programming here: https://valleyhumane.org/humane-education/
Congratulations to Emily and Valley Humane and their volunteers for all of the great work they do saving homeless animals.