Lawrence “DC” Randle ’79
Isanti, Minnesota

Lawrence “DC” Randle’s approach to education is all about environment. Growing up in Washington, D.C., Randle didn’t have much exposure to the natural settings he was studying in class. After graduating from Wartburg with his bachelor’s degree in science education in 1979, he set out to change that experience for his own students. At Saint Francis High School in Minnesota, he took on the challenge of teaching behaviorally challenged students, exposing them to science through experiential learning that included a project to trap and release an endangered turtle. By helping the natural environment, Randle’s students were improving their own educational environment.

Randle continued his own education in the 1980s, by earning additional certifications from Wartburg in 1985 and from St. Cloud State in 1987. He would later earn a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction with an ecological emphasis in 2005 from Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota. Throughout his career, Randle has been honored with several educational awards for his dedication to education and young people.

While teaching high school students through environmental work, Randle learned about the Jason Project and was chosen to be one of six educators to take part in the Amazon Exploration Project in 1994. Since 1996, he has been an assistant canopy researcher, conducting studies in herbivory and developing educational programs for high school groups coming into the tropics. Each year, he has brought a group of students to experience a new environment of tropical ecology, indigenous culture, sustainable development and rainforest research in South America.

Since 2000, Randle has been an expedition coordinator for trips to Peru, managing students as they work to fundraise for study in the Amazonian tropics. He came back to his alma mater a few years ago to bring his Amazon opportunity to Wartburg students, helping Dr. Michael Bechtel ’94 start a May Term class to Peru. “DC engages others in his endeavors and is masterful at assisting others in finding their calling,” said Bechtel in his nomination. “His focus is on ‘citizen science,’ bringing science and its practices to all community members. He lives the belief that humans are the caretakers of the environment and it is our duty to teach others, work together and use its resources wisely.”

In 2015, Randle left the high school classroom setting to become a naturalist for education outreach with the University of Minnesota’s Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, which serves thousands of schoolchildren each year.

“Learning is DC’s language,” said Bechtel. “He has been passionately involved in helping all people, even the most disenfranchised students, find how education can help find their future.” Throughout his career, Randle has helped others find their connection to nature, both by exploring the Amazon and by researching the forests and fields of the Midwest, and in doing so, has helped thousands of students discover their vocation, their confidence, and a new outlook on the world.