Turtle Point has new director this year

Visitors at Turtle Point Science Center in Flomaton on Highway 31 will see a new face this year as Director Sierra Stiles joins the Escambia County (Ala.) School System, filling the shoes of former director Jackie Word.

Birmingham native Stiles and her husband, Jimmy, have worked in research and education for many years, teaching live animal programs all over the state of Alabama for decades. Many may recognize her from the program 'A Cooperative Environment,' sponsored by Powersouth Electric Cooperatives, which she taught in local schools.

Now living in Pleasant Home, Ala., the couple moved to Covington County near Andalusia in 2003 to study reptiles and amphibians at the Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center.

She said she became aware of the job opening a couple of months ago when she saw that former director Jackie Word was leaving. She had met Shirley West, who was instrumental in the building and completing of the science center, and Word through the education community and had known about the science center for years.

Stiles said she has an advantage of building a network with many other science professionals through her years of research, who she plans to connect with and invite to the science center, from botanists to biologists and specialists across the scientific boards.

“I was already looking for a job, but I was looking in both teaching and research,” said Stiles. “I've always loved with animals, teaching with animals in particular. Students are grabbed by the hands-on experience with nature in a way that nothing else does.”

Stiles said she and her husband have done programs at county fairs, festivals, in schools, adult programs and many other venues all over. She said it excites her to teach people about their own back yard.

“If we teach kids to be curious and to be interested, they are going follow our example,” she said. “Kids just start off just wanting to be curious, so they can be easier to teach than adults.”

Stiles said she does not belong in a classroom and that the science center is her kind of classroom. “This is my dream job, and I am not leaving, so I hope ya'll love me,” she said. “You'll have a hard time getting rid of me.”

Stiles earned Masters in Biological Sciences studying the Eastern Indigo snake habitat use as part of a reintroduction project in the Conecuh national Forest and received her Alabama Teacher Certification in Science Education at Auburn University.

In 2018, she received the Governor's Conservation Award for her educational efforts in Alabama. Her most recent job was at the Kreher Preserve and Nature Center in Auburn as a teacher naturalist.

Stiles said that Turtle Point has interior remodeling planned this fall and that it will hopefully be completed by the center's 20th anniversary on Nov. 16. She said there will be an open house on Saturday, Sept. 28, for Railroad Junction Day offering up activities to visitors and it will be open to the public. Along with a lot of new classes planned this year, the haunted boardwalk is planned for October.

“We've got that 20th anniversary celebration, which will be a big bash,” she said.

Steve Trash, who has done a show at the center before and now has a show on Alabama PBS, is scheduled to return and there are other live animal shows planned.

“Jackie has done such a great job of building this place up and has leaving me with a great budget to do more projects, I feel like I am in a dream,” said Stiles.

The public is invited to visit Turtle Point Science Center and meet Stiles. The hours of operation are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday and closed weekends, except for special events.