Our Founder & His Legacy
Inside Education (then FEESA) was founded in 1985 by Jim Martin.
For 20 years he served as our Executive Director and spearheaded the growth of our organization from a ’kitchen table idea’ to Alberta’s largest environmental and natural resource education organization. His leadership and mentorship not only to Inside Education, but to a generation of environmental education leaders - from Deputy Ministers to classroom teachers and everyone in between - can barely be measured.
Shortly after Jim’s passing in 2016, with kind tributes from his friends and our partners, we established the Jim Martin Legacy Fund. The fund will help support schools from Alberta Indigenous communities to attend future Inside Education provincial (and someday national) youth summits.
Jim Martin’s passion for having young people connect with Alberta’s important issues in a meaningful, hopeful way is at the root of all we do at Inside Education.
Our youth summits were a logical expression of Jim’s interest in energy and environmental issues in Alberta and in inspiring young people to not only learn about these topics, but to act upon what they learned.
As a former teacher and principal in Indigenous communities throughout Alberta, we know Jim would have been delighted and proud to know that his legacy will help remove any financial barriers to Indigenous students attending future summits.
