10/09/2026
As mentioned, our new classroom is named Susie Percy Badger's Rest, but who was Susie Percy?
🌲Susie Percy was trained as a botanist and forester, she worked for the Forest Service and volunteered at wildlife centers, though credentials mattered less to her than the butterflies, geodes, and beargrass she loved.
🌸A Certified Arizona Master Naturalist and Certified Master Gardener, she volunteered twelve years at the Highlands Center, where she founded and ran Arthropalooza, now one of its signature annual events. A life-long educator, she taught children about water bugs, spoke on fungus and wildlife safety, and hand-watered trees through drought.
🏔Together with her loving family she climbed Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Bachelor, Iron Mountain, the South Sister, Granite Mountain, Spruce Mountain, and Mt. Humphreys; hiked canyons, cinder cones, and gorges; and spelunked through caves. She wandered rivers and beaches, pocketing a stone, shell, or feather, and snowshoed through the Mt. Hood wilderness, skiing into the Cascades to cut her family's Christmas tree.
🌿Despite her indomitable spirit, she never sought the summit only the presence of nature, and joy of sharing it with others.
We are honored to have been a part of Susie's life, and delighted to name our new classroom in her honor. It is people like Susie who make places like the Highlands Center more meaningful and impactful parts of the community.
If you would like to support the building of Badger's Rest, please donate here: https://highlandscenter.app.neoncrm.com/forms/susie-percy-badgers-rest-1
