Full Name
Dusty Rixford
Speaker Bio
Dusty coordinates all logistics for the American Prairie Field School located at Antelope Creek Campground. She works closely with American Prairie field staff as well as Yellowstone Forever Institute to implement a prairie science program for middle school students from all around the state.
Dusty grew up in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona among the mighty saguaro cactus and mesquite trees. Her love for the outdoors began as a child — hence the nickname — continued to grow while working as a firefighter on a hotshot crew and smokejumper traveling all over the Western states. Before working with American Prairie, she worked in conservation education and fire prevention for the Forest Service as well as Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as an office manager in Lewistown.
She enjoys sharing the outdoor world with children and looks forward to connecting kids with nature and the prairie in which we live. Dusty loves spending time with her family and doing anything that gets her outside.
I am so excited to be a part of American Prairie, conserving the prairie for my grandchildren and yours. American Prairie's educational work reminds me of a Wallace Stegner quote: 'Whatever landscape a child is exposed to early on, that will be the sort of gauze through which he or she will see all the world afterwards.
Bess has been teaching science for 10 years. Her goals as a science teacher are to provide an immersive, hands-on learning environment where my students feel welcome, safe, and comfortable learning and practicing their STEM skills. She believe that students learn best when doing, so in her classroom and lab they do a lot of “doing.” In addition to teaching in the classroom, Bess is also the Science Olympiad Advisor, the CBHS AISES (American Indian Science and Engineering Society) Advisor, and the coordinator of the CBHS/CBMS MakerSpace (which she co-created with the CBMS Principal). Bess was also a member of the Golden Triangle Curriculum Cooperative Science Revision Committee when they were tasked with revising Montana’s science standards in accordance with the national Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Dusty grew up in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona among the mighty saguaro cactus and mesquite trees. Her love for the outdoors began as a child — hence the nickname — continued to grow while working as a firefighter on a hotshot crew and smokejumper traveling all over the Western states. Before working with American Prairie, she worked in conservation education and fire prevention for the Forest Service as well as Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as an office manager in Lewistown.
She enjoys sharing the outdoor world with children and looks forward to connecting kids with nature and the prairie in which we live. Dusty loves spending time with her family and doing anything that gets her outside.
I am so excited to be a part of American Prairie, conserving the prairie for my grandchildren and yours. American Prairie's educational work reminds me of a Wallace Stegner quote: 'Whatever landscape a child is exposed to early on, that will be the sort of gauze through which he or she will see all the world afterwards.
Bess has been teaching science for 10 years. Her goals as a science teacher are to provide an immersive, hands-on learning environment where my students feel welcome, safe, and comfortable learning and practicing their STEM skills. She believe that students learn best when doing, so in her classroom and lab they do a lot of “doing.” In addition to teaching in the classroom, Bess is also the Science Olympiad Advisor, the CBHS AISES (American Indian Science and Engineering Society) Advisor, and the coordinator of the CBHS/CBMS MakerSpace (which she co-created with the CBMS Principal). Bess was also a member of the Golden Triangle Curriculum Cooperative Science Revision Committee when they were tasked with revising Montana’s science standards in accordance with the national Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Speaking At
