Meet Alumni Sustainability Champion: Tim Ornes ’15

We’d like to introduce you to one of our Alumni Sustainability Champions: Tim Ornes ’15! While enrolled at St. Edward’s as a Biology major in the School of Education, Tim demonstrated his passion for both wildlife and education by helping to create a public exhibit about the golden-cheeked warbler, an endangered songbird that nests in the Wild Basin Creative Research Center’s habitat. The exhibit focuses on engaging visitors’ senses in different ways as they learn about the bird, including sounds from bird songs and calls, bird beak-inspired puppets that help demonstrate differences in bird diets, and powerful binoculars that help visitors see leg bands on some birds and determine their identity. Now that he’s graduated, Tim works at the Austin Discovery School (a charter school in east Austin) as an eco wellness teacher. In this role, Tim teaches students in grades 5 through 8 about sustainability, gardening, and ecology.

We treasure sharing the stories of our graduates who are making a difference in the lives of so many people and invite you too to send us your story. To submit a nomination, please email the Sustainability Coordinator with the nominee’s name, graduation year, and a few green accomplishments.