About Natasha Yates

My husband and I moved to Red Wing in 2004 with our 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old twin sons. The natural beauty of the river, the bluffs, the hiking and biking trails called out to us as a new home to raise our children.  As a parent, while our three children attended ISD #256 from kindergarten through twelfth grade, I volunteered on district committees, in classrooms, and on field trips.

Three of my four grandparents were teachers, my parents were educators, and I followed in their footsteps. My background includes 25 years teaching 5th grade, middle school earth, environmental, and life sciences, high school biology, and as a professor in a university education department. I earned a doctorate in education focusing on environmental education and recently published a research project investigating 3-6 year-olds’ connection to nature.

I spent eight years on the Red Cottage Montessori School Board here in Red Wing and nine years on the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center Board, where I helped launch a nature preschool. I now serve on the Red Wing Library Board.