Judy Carlstrom has been an educator for more than 40 years both in K-12 public schools and at the University level. She has always had a love of nature and for 20 years, while teaching fifth grade in Escondido, California, she would take her class to the beaches and tide pools to study the marine invertebrates. In addition to being a docent at Torrey Pines State Reserve she has been a volunteer at the San Diego Museum of Natural History for 21 years.