Dr. Richard Snyder Named Conservation Educator of the Year

This year the Conservation Educator Award is presented to Dr. Richard Snyder, the Director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s Eastern Shore Laboratory. As the Director of VIMS Eastern Shore Laboratory, he is responsible for ensuring safe and effective access for visiting students and faculty to the spectacular coastal habitats of the Eastern Shore of Virginia and providing laboratory facilities for classroom and experimental work capitalizing on that access.

Mr. Snyder has been instrumental in facilitating a number of events for ESSWCD. He has been helpful for a number of years. In 2020, VIMS ESL hosted the tour for the Area VI Region Spring Meeting. In 2024, the Northampton 4-H Agent and I decided to bring back the Eastern Shore Regional Science Fair. When we were having a problem finding a place to host the science fair, Dr. Snyder and VIMS quickly stepped forward to offer their facilities. When approached about hosting the Area VI Regional Envirothon in 2024, they happily agreed even though it was only three days before the regional science fair.

For the past two years, ESSWCD has partnered with VIMS to offer Seaside Explorers, a day camp focused on marine ecology. This camp has been so well received that we will be doing two of them in the summer of 2025.

All of these events required not only letting us use the space, but set-up, clean-up, and other support. In addition, he has volunteered to judge the science fair and wants to continue in that role when he retires. Dr. Snyder and his staff have gone above and beyond to help to make science available to the Eastern Shore and its’ students.

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Wayne Creed

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