Connie O’Connor

Connie O’Connor, an SWCD Board Supervisor for three years, is Director of Education for the Cincinnati Nature Center, where she has worked for the past 27 years.  Some of her more recent projects include leading Clermont County’s Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist program through Ohio State University, leading a new teen conservation program, and designing new ways to plan and assess nature center programs. Earlier in her career she wrote the business plan for the Nature Center’s Nature Preschool and was integral in the creation of its Nature PlayScape.

Connie is a strong believer in the power of relationships to support conservation goals, and she is developing an online course to teach communication skills and behavior change theory. The idea is that conservation is about human behavior, and people are complicated. The more we can find common ground and build trusting relationships, the more effectively we can support each other’s conservation efforts.

Connie received her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Macalester College in St Paul and her masters in natural resources from University of Wisconsin. She is a Certified Interpretive Planner with the National Association for Interpretation.

Connie has lived in Clermont County for 23 years and enjoys her home in Batavia near the Clermont County airport, where she and her husband hangar their gyroplane (Connie holds a sport pilot certificate). She and her husband Tim enjoy flying, motorcycling, camping, lindy hop dancing, training their dog Ruby and fostering with Peppermint Pig Animal Rescue.

Connie is seeking her second term on the Board.

Lacy Walker

Lacy is a classroom teacher who enjoys teaching middle school math and science. She is going into her 8th year of teaching, with the last 4 years being spent at West Clermont Middle School. She has been the math leader and science leader at both buildings she has worked in. She first worked at a school where the focus was environmental science. She helped to develop outdoor classrooms, a garden, greenhouse, and an outdoor playscape. She was an advocate for what these should look like and how they could be utilized to best help students learn about nature in our different content areas Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM). Most recently, Lacy has worked with students, teachers, and partners to find ways for our students to do different projects to benefit our community. This past year, her students helped the community with a litter clean-up initiative, started a community garden to provide produce for the school’s food pantry, and initiated a food waste reduction program by doing their first food waste audit.

Lacy is an active part of her church, volunteers at the Clermont County Shelter, and does some additional work with Nest, a non-profit in Owensville and Loveland that provides food and tutoring to our most at risk children. Nest turns older RVs and small buses into mobile classrooms and takes them to low income neighborhoods where they provide students with snacks, lunch, tutoring, while building relationships with all the students.

Lacy received Bachelor of Science degrees in 2010 from Cincinnati Christian University in Psychology and Biblical Studies. She then received her Master of Education degree from Xavier University in 2015. Lacy continues to go back to school because of her love and passion for learning and growing as a teacher, a community member, and a leader.

Lacy lives in Milford with her husband, Tim, and their two goldendoodles. Lacy has lived in Clermont County for the past four years and has truly enjoyed her time here. Tim and Lacy enjoy walking their dogs at the local parks, gardening, volunteering with Clermont County Shelter and playing volleyball.