Heidi Faris is the Nature Play Begins Grant Coordinator for AZA, serving on the AZA Nature Club Task Force Committee. Heidi received her MEd. in EE with a focus on Fostering Attitudes of Empathy in Children through Play Experiences in a Zoo Setting. Over the past 10 years she connected children with nature through her work at the North Carolina Zoo as the KidZone Manager and Education Program Coordinator at the Lake Superior Zoo. Beyond her role with AZA she is the Naturalist in My Nature Preschool at Tamarack Nature Center.