Rik's introduction

Behind Green Steps: Rik Wassenaar

Green Steps Team is international and diverse. You can meet some of us during our events. Others maybe are working behind the scenes, or even in another continent, but we all play a part to succeed in our mission. This is possible thanks to individuals and their hearts, which is something that goes beyond their job description.
To make you all feel closer to our community, we post a short introduction to one of our Team Members, to celebrate the people behind Green Steps.
Hello everyone!
My name is Rik Wassenaar, 25 years old and the newest volunteer of the Green Steps team. The specifics of my role in Green Steps is yet to be confirmed, but would likely contain a combination of creating educational materials focused on nature, working on advertisement, creating educational games and being part of the daily work task of a small NGO.

Use less than 250 words to tell a story about yourself: starting from “where are you from” to the choice of joining Green Steps.
I grew up in The Hague in the Netherlands with my mom and brother. Even though the area is highly urbanised, my mother still took me very often to the forest and let me explore and observe insects for hours. Sometimes we planned to go to a play yard, but never reached it as I got distracted by a woodlouse or pretty leaves. This interest returned during my studies to become an international teacher in the form of bird watching, but reached its peak two years ago in Norway. This is where locals opened my eyes to the wonderful world of fungi which has remained my passion ever since. I wrote my bachelors thesis on connecting children to their natural environment through game-based learning and my dream was to put this into practice, even though this seemed unrealistic at the time. Imagine my surprise when I found a volunteering opportunity in which I could experience my thesis research in action and combine theory with practice. This year at Green Steps feels like a natural next step in my journey to connect education and nature.

What is your daily routine? What is something you like doing and your coworkers maybe don’t know about you?
My daily routine consists of being outdoors as much as I can, bouldering, reading, and working. On the weekends, I like to spend my time exploring my surroundings in Austria and going on trips. Something you might not know about me, is that I’m a theatre kid and spent nine years in my youth on the art. I still love to sing while cooking and cleaning, and would like to get into acting again.
Mention a book you read as a teenager that still tells something about you, and that you would still suggest reading.
“Those who (don’t) travel are crazy” by Ap Dijksterhuis
An anthem to the psychological benefits of traveling, which I heavily applied in real life during my gap years.
How do you expect you and Green Steps to have an impact in the next years? Close with a wish for the organization.
I hope Green Steps continues to put the meaningful work of connecting children with nature into practice and keeps finding innovative ways to do so.