Bo Hoppin, the Executive Director for the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership, arrived on the island in the summer of 2017. He loves to share with friends and colleagues that he currently sits in “the best job ever created,” as the magic of the place and the importance of its work merge to make Hurricane Island Bo’s ideal professional home. He brings 32 years of experience working to build an ethic of stewardship for the earth through environmental education, strong science, social justice, and sustainability leadership. He sees the opportunity to lead Hurricane’s goals for building strong programs to integrate science education, research, and leadership as the ideal challenge.
Bo earned a B.A. from Dickinson College and an M.S. from Antioch University New England. Both institutions taught Bo the value of getting your feet wet in the natural world as a tool to catalyze academic achievement and inspire action to make the world a more positive place. After completing his degree, Bo went on to work at Antioch University New England with other faculty to develop the Co-Seed program. This work carried him into Boston Public Schools to focus on connecting curricula to local places and the environment. While at Young Achievers Science and Math Pilot School in Mattapan MA, Bo worked with the faculty to design and implement a K-8 experiential education curriculum that built concepts of social justice through study and celebration of students’ places, while immersing kids in local ecosystems. With his professional home now at Hurricane Island, Bo and his family reside in Camden ME. From probing the intertidal zone to skiing the slopes of the Camden Snow Bowl, his favorite activity is watching his own kids expand their ecological identity through interacting with the beauty and lessons of midcoast Maine.