Whether she is getting in touch with her inner self while belly dancing or doing yoga, or with the nature outside and around her while kayaking, biking, scuba diving, and hiking, environmental science instructor, Mary Poffenroth feels a connection with nature everywhere she goes.

Poffenroth received her bachelor’s degree in biology at San Jose State University and then took six months off to work full time before pursuing a masters in conservation biology with a concentration in ecology and organismal biology also at SJSU. Poffenroth has always loved nature and animals, but it was because of an inspirational teacher that she pursued biology as her major.

“It also came really easy to me, it’s easier to follow the path of least resistance, so I went with what I did best,” Poffenroth said.

While working toward her bachelor’s degree, Poffenroth also worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ames, participating in gravitations studies on rodents in order to understand how gravitation would affect humans in space. She also worked as a waitress and then, while earning her masters remained in the job, while also working as an accountant for a non-profit organization and teaching a lab at SJSU.

Finishing school while working was not easy for Poffenroth, especially because she was the first in her family to attend college. Out of five siblings, two sisters and two brothers (one passed away as a child), she was also the only one to graduate from high school. However, in January 2007, not six months after she obtained her masters, she got a teaching job with her friend and fellow instructor Tanya Diamond teaching environmental science at De Anza. They had worked on their masters together, and had done field work together for their master theses as well.

One of the funniest experiences she had while on a field expedition was when she and Diamond “woke up at dawn to observe the bats, and one of the bats flew right up in Tanya’s face, and then swooped away an inch from her face,” Poffenroth said.

The environment is Poffenroth’s passion, something she likes to share with her students both at De Anza and also at SJSU where she teaches human biology, and the “living world.” Nature “is that spiritual part of us,” said Poffenroth, who thinks the media portrays nature, is such a way that it scares people.

“We’ve become so accustomed to city life, and have a skewed sense of reality,” Poffenroth said.

This is why she feels the field trips that students in the environmental science program attend are necessary to become comfortable with nature, which is a lot safer than life in the city.

“You can’t save something unless you care about it, and are close to it,” Poffenroth said. In order to save the environment it is necessary to first go out and explore and connect with it.

Poffenroth is also a self-proclaimed workaholic.

“I love reading about nature, and how to create information into stories. I also love playing with my Yorkie, Peanut,” Poffenroth said. In her free time, she likes to watch Supernatural, and listen to rock music from “Muse,” “The Killers,” and “the Kings of Leon” among others. She loves working on a college campus because according to Poffenroth “it keeps you young.”

Fellow environmental science teacher Tanya Diamond says that education, the environment and helping people are what keep Poffenroth motivated. She “loves working together she makes it very fun and inspiring. She always gives me great ideas and techniques for teaching,” Diamond said. “She truly inspires and changes her students’