Welcome Mariama Dryak, FNFSR’s New Program Coordinator!

Welcome Mariama Dryak—our new Program Coordinator for education and science at Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River!

Mariama Dryak (she/her) is an earth scientist, science communicator, and an advocate for action on creating solutions to the global climate crisis. Her interest in the environment developed whilst growing up on a small family farm in driftless Wisconsin and exploring the marvels of the world through running on and off trails for unreasonable distances. It was further honed whilst studying physical geography and archaeology at Durham University in northeast England—where she focused specifically on earth systems and climate change. Mariama received her Master’s from the University of Maine in 2019 in Earth and Climate Science, during which she studied glaciers and changing climate.

During graduate school she also began engaging in earth education outreach with students (grades 3-12) in Maine, and later took that outreach to schools near her home in Wisconsin. Since that time she has worked in outdoor and environmental education spaces with people of all ages, which took her from southeast Alaska to New Mexico to Panama to the banks of the Mississippi River and deposited her here on the banks of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. She brings with her experience in organizing large groups of people around environmental action and education, along with a passion for making science, education and the outdoors accessible to all regardless of background.

She is ecstatic to work with and listen to the community within the North Fork of the Shenandoah River watershed to develop engaging, place-based educational programming and a more active engagement in science through long-term monitoring programs and citizen science. 

Mariama wants to connect with as many people around the watershed as possible, so as to understand how FNFSR can develop programming that directly meets the needs of the river and the community around it. Feel free to connect with her via email at mariama.dryak@fnfsr.org to organize a time to chat over video chat, a coffee or a hike.