Lessley Bender

Lessley Bender graduated from the University of Maryland in 2012 with a B.S. in environmental science and policy, with a focus on conservation biology. Both as an undergraduate at UMD and a research assistant at the Carnegie Institute for Science, she studied plant genes responsible for resilience to climate change. After graduation, she moved to the Marin Headlands to intern with the Golden Gate Parks Conservancy and fell in love with the Bay Area. She has spent more than five years in youth outdoor education, working as an instructor, camp director, recruiter, and outdoor preschool teacher. When she is not teaching, Lessley loves oil painting, reading, trail running, cooking, and seeing live music. She lives in Berkeley with her spouse and their cat, Kitty. Lessley is excited to join BPC in 2023 as an assistant teacher and jump into the classroom!