Shannon Matzke serves as the Marine Educator and Public Program Coordinator for the unit where she leads marine science classes for Pre-K-12 students and teachers while managing and expanding education programs for the general public. She joined the team in 2024 after working as the lead Naturalist at the Ford Field and River Club in Richmond Hill, Georgia. She has worked on native habitat restoration and conservation projects in South Louisiana, the Bay Area of California, Southern Maine, and Coastal Georgia.

Matzke is from Houma, Louisiana, a town south of New Orleans on the Gulf Coast. Yes, there is land south of New Orleans. She earned her bachelor’s degree in coastal environmental science from Louisiana State University and her master’s degree in biology from Georgia Southern. She loves exploring the outdoors looking for plants, birds, snakes, and butterflies and introducing people to the beauty and wonder of the Georgia Coast.