Guest Speaking

Henry inspires K–12 students to see themselves as leaders on a changing planet. Whether on a classroom visit or a school-wide event, his talks combine practical insight with the energy and emotion of a motivational voice, turning curiosity into confidence and ideas into action.

  • Everyone has a story to share

    45-75 minutes

    Previously adapted to: Grades 1-3

    Crash! Splash! Boom! Far up in the mountains once lived a cedar tree named Pascal. How could he have imagined the journey he would take when he fell and landed in the Snohomish? With careful attention to the natural phenomena of driftwood, Henry weaves together a narrative story with real-world takeaways about ecology, change, and friendship.

    Learning Outcomes:

    • Empathy: How to reimagine and connect with elements of the natural world.

    • Responsibility and stewardship: Through reimagining elements of the natural world, students come to understand newfound respect and responsibility for maintaining natural surroundings.

    • Social-emotional development: How to identify courage and friendship through story-telling.

    • Dialogue: How to discuss and expand on observations in a story.

  • Opening definitions • Let’s think about nature in new ways.

    45-75 minutes

    Previously adapted to: Grades 1-3 students; Grade 4-6 students.

    Words are tools. A cat is a cat just like a tree is one big and dangling collection of branches hung with leaves or pines. What if ‘home’ was not just the borders around our houses and apartments? Through narrative story telling and introductory marine biology, Henry opens up our understanding of ‘home’ and allows us to think broadly about beaches, forests, deserts, and even our crawlspaces which may be home to a couple racoons.

    Learning Outcomes:

    • Empathy: How to reimagine and connect with marine and terrestrial life in nature.

    • Responsibility and Stewardship: Through tools of narrative structure and STEAM topics, we discover personalized definitions of responsibility, reciprocity, and stewardship.

    • Social-Emotional Development: Access personalized understandings with our emotional connections to the natural world.

    • Increased Confidence: Unlock deepened perspectives on the natural world to build social-emotional learning and a sense of curiosity.

    • Fresh Perspectives in the sciences: Connect understandings of ecosystems, marine biology, and oceanography to a newfound emotional intelligence.

    • Critical thinking and Language Skills: How to challenge a black-and-white approach to defining and understanding language.

  • Explore the systems of the ocean, moon, and planet

    45-75 minutes

    Previously adapted to: Grades 1-3; Grades 4-5

    Previously presented in French

    The enormity of the ocean can be difficult to imagine. Even more complex can be the intricate systems studied by oceanographers. But understanding these systems of ocean currents, moon tides, and water circulation from the surface to the deep have the potential to empower students with a greater fascination and curiosity about the world around them. In this talk, we break down complex topics like thermohaline circulation and moon tides into stories about water movement, whirling planets around the solar system, and the rule-following moon which keeps the ocean from eating up the beach.

    Learning outcomes:

    • Increased Confidence: Unlock deepened perspectives on the natural world to build social-emotional learning and a sense of curiosity.

    • Fresh Perspectives in the sciences: Connect understandings of tides, astrology, and oceanography into a memorable, story-telling framework.

    • Unlocking new words and definitions: Bolster a student’s vocabulary and expressive capacity with new ideas, concepts, and names for phenomena that they witness day-to-day.

    • Understanding oceanography: How to define and engage with the study of oceanography in early education.

    • Physical engagement: Play the ‘seven seas’ interactive game, the ‘moon and tide dance’ and the ‘current crossing’ activity.

    • Environmental stewardship: How to understand and help in the fight against plastics travelling around the ocean.

  • Empower students with passion-led choices

    45-75 minutes

    Previously adapted to: Grades 9-12 students.

    We are in a unique point in history. The jobs we choose can expand beyond a narrow sense of profit, loss, and non-profit models. Many for-profit companies have adopted carbon-negative and naturalist approaches to future building prospects, operational strategies, and product-sourcing. With extensive experience in the field, Henry energizes students by illuminating the climate-forward, naturalist-thinking career landscape rapidly emerging across the globe.

    Learning Outcomes:

    • Moves students beyond traditional schools of thought when thinking about careers.

    • Confidence building: Empowers a sense of hope and direction amid current anxieties around the climate and global economy.

    • The ‘braiding’ model: Introducing students to braiding passion, aptitude, and mission into career decisions.

    • Solidifies an understanding of the emergent industries and departments dedicated to climate-forward goals.

    • Empowerment: How to think hopefully about the future and transform hope into action.

    • Responsibility: How to think about working for yourself and others.

    • How to think and contribute to an actionable, optimistic future.

  • Meticulously personalized

    45-75 minutes.

    Bring your institution’s goals onto the drawing board to energize your students and community. Place-based learning and STEAM-focused topics have the power to bolster the direct missions and goals of small communities. Through meticulous research and planning, Henry delivers mission-aligned talks with institutions for the goal of burgeoning a social-emotional connections to the nature, restoration projects, ambitions, and critters around an institution’s direct landscape.

Let’s create a magical day