Community Spotlight: Rachel Lithman & NetApp Serves

If you’ve visited us at Leigh Farm Park recently, you may have noticed that some of our raptor enclosures are getting on in years – especially the standalone enclosure that used to house Otus, our elderly flightless screech owl. After Otus passed this summer, our Conservation Team knew we’d need to rebuild it before another bird could live there. Luckily, we’ve had extra helping hands on this project from NetApp Serves – including this month's Community Spotlight, Rachel Lithman!

Rachel Lithman grew up here in Durham, NC, and loves that she can call the Bull City home. She works as a technical writer at NetApp, a global data infrastructure company with a branch office in nearby Research Triangle Park.

Luck led Rachel to volunteer with Piedmont Wildlife Center. NetApp’s volunteer program, NetApp Serves, enables their employees to support causes they care about by granting them 40 hours of paid Volunteer Time Off to volunteer with local nonprofits. The company also donates an additional $15 per volunteer hour to the charity of the employee’s choice!

Rachel happened to search NetApp’s volunteer portal for outdoor opportunities at just the right time to find PWC’s call for volunteers to help re-build our screech owl enclosure. As an avid nature lover, Rachel knew this would be a great way to give back to the wildlife she loves. “Nature is so important to me and to all of us,” she says. “I love walking outdoors, gardening, showing my son local wildlife, and just being one with nature.”

Over the last few weeks, Rachel has worked closely with PWC’s Conservation Team and former Executive Director Gail Abrams to tear down our aging enclosure and begin constructing a new one. As of November 15th, the new enclosure is nearly finished! (See pictures of the enclosure in progress below.) Rachel’s favorite part of volunteering with PWC? “My favorite part of volunteering has been working with Noelle, Gail, Kaitlin, Cam, and Briana,” she says, “and learning from you all.”

When Rachel isn’t working at NetApp or volunteering, she enjoys traveling the world, hanging out with her cats Orion and Cleo, and spending time exploring the Earth’s beauty. She is passionate about preserving natural landscapes and wildlife, both in NC and beyond! Her favorite animals are owls, falcons, and big cats of all kinds.

We feel so grateful for the help Rachel and NetApp have given us this fall. Building a new raptor enclosure can be a long and expensive process, costing more than $5,000 in materials and months of physical labor. Volunteers like Rachel allow us to complete this project in a fraction of this time, and NetApp has generously offered to cover the cost of building materials. Their support will directly improve the lives of our Ambassador Animals – and, in turn, allow us to connect even more people with nature in 2024 and beyond!

Thank you again, Rachel, for volunteering to help us with such a huge project. We’re so grateful to have you in our community, and we hope to see you and other NetApp employees back at PWC again in the future!

Community Spotlight: Camryn Jefferson

Did you know that during our 2022-23 fiscal year, PWC conservation educators taught 5,232 kids, teens, and adults about wildlife? As demand for our wildlife programs grows, our Conservation Team is growing, too. Join us in welcoming Camryn Jefferson, our newest Conservation Assistant!

Cam grew up in Wilmington, NC, and attended NC State University, where she earned a B.S. in Zoology. While in college, she conducted research at the North Carolina Zoo, where she studied zoo-housed giraffe behavior and welfare. After graduating, she worked for Alabama Audubon, researching human disturbances to nesting shorebirds.

Cam brings a wealth of wildlife research and animal husbandry experience to her role here at PWC. She works closely with Kaitlin Saxton, Research & Husbandry Coordinator, to make sure our Ambassador Animals receive the best possible diet, enrichment, and housing. They recently finished building a new, larger enclosure for Pepper the opossum, and have started constructing an outdoor box turtle enclosure as well.

"At PWC, you never know what each day will entail," says Kaitlin. "Cam has welcomed every challenge and has an eagerness to learn and improve that makes her a perfect fit for Conservation Team!"

When not studying animals, Cam loves hiking, gardening, and scuba diving. Her favorite Ambassador Animal at PWC? Jade the eastern rat snake!

Thank you, Cam, for everything you've brought to PWC so far. We love having you around the cabin, and we're so excited to see how our Conservation department grows with you as a valued team member.

Community Spotlight: Arisa Fourie

School is back in session - and so is Homeschool in the Wild, Piedmont Wildlife Center's unique outdoor program for homeschoolers ages 5-17! Help us celebrate the person who's been working extra hard to make this season the best one yet. Meet Arisa Fourie, our new Homeschool & CIT Coordinator!

Arisa grew up in New York and moved to North Carolina three years ago to attend North Carolina State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology. An avid hiker, skier, and swimmer, she loves being outside and helping others experience the natural world. Her favorite animal? The ostrich!

Arisa is no stranger to Homeschool in the Wild. In fact, she joined PWC in 2022 as a counselor for that very program! She loves giving our homeschool campers opportunities to explore nature at their own pace, especially at Pawpaw Creek and other cool spots around Leigh Farm Park.

"I'm excited to continue to connect kids with nature as the new Homeschool and CIT Coordinator," Arisa says. "I was a counselor for the last few seasons and am ready to continue to help the program thrive and grow."

We're excited, too, Arisa! We can't wait to see how much our Homeschool in the Wild campers, counselors, and CITs (Counselors-In-Training) will grow and learn under your leadership.

Community Spotlight: Sarah Walker

If you’ve been to Leigh Farm Park lately, you may have noticed some impressive new additions to our camp circles and picnic area! These new benches and picnic tables are the handiwork of longtime Homeschool in the Wild camper and current CIT Sarah Walker, who generously made them for us as her Eagle Scout project. This month, we’re catching up with Sarah to celebrate her accomplishments, generosity, and love of nature!

 “PWC’s Homeschool in the Wild program taught me a plethora of outdoor skills,” Sarah says, including fire-starting, building survival shelters, finding food and water in the wilderness, and identifying local flora and fauna. “When Scouts BSA welcomed girls into its ranks in 2019, my PWC training made me feel very confident outdoors and eager to join. My PWC skills have enhanced my Scout skills and vice versa.”

Our staff were delighted when Sarah approached us with the idea of using her Eagle Scout project to benefit PWC. “My Eagle Scout project was dedicated to PWC,” she says, “as a thank-you for the many years of outdoor experience they’ve given me.” After several meetings with Executive Director Karen McCall, Sarah decided to build new seating for our camp circles at Leigh Farm Park. She also built new picnic tables for the picnic area near our Amphitheater. These included a much needed wheelchair-accessible table, the first of its kind in Leigh Farm Park.

In total, Sarah built 3 tables and 13 benches for us - and her hard work has already paid off. Since they were installed earlier this year, we’ve already seen visitors to Leigh Farm Park take advantage of the new accessible picnic table. And the new benches have been a hot commodity among our homeschool and intersession campers this spring!

In addition to being a Scout, Sarah is still an active part of PWC’s camp programs. “Currently,” she says, “I am serving as a CIT and passing down my knowledge and delight in the outdoors to younger generations of Piedmont campers. My goal is to give them the same enriching experience that I received and help them feel sure of their own skills in the wilderness.”

Sarah, we are so excited for you to get your well-deserved Eagle! We are so grateful for all the ways you go above and beyond to help others connect with nature. Congratulations and thank you! 

Community Spotlight: Nathan Barraza

Spring is here at Leigh Farm Park. Box turtles are coming out of brumation, redbud trees are blooming - and PWC's spring camps are in full swing! With intersession camps and Homeschool in the Wild in session, we're highlighting one of the amazing counselors who makes these programs possible: support counselor Nathan Barraza!

Nathan grew up in many different places, including Washington, but one thing they all had in common was beautiful places to visit in nature. Growing up around these natural wonders gave Nathan a deep curiosity about his surroundings, and he's made it his goal to learn as much as he can about life on our planet. When he's not working at camp, Nathan likes to garden, hike, and practice amateur botany.

Nathan joined PWC's camp staff as a support counselor in September 2022. Since then, he's become one of our campers' favorite staff members! He is always eager to teach and learn about the plants and animals campers encounter while adventuring in the woods. And despite being the youngest counselor on staff, Nathan has been a wonderful mentor to the kids and teens in our programs.

Thank you, Nathan, for being such a positive influence on our campers! We're excited to see how you grow as a leader this season.