About me
Kristy Reale serves as the Outdoor Learning Specialist at the New Mexico Public Education Department (NM PED). In this role, she is a key leader in the state’s efforts to expand and sustain place-based learning, ensuring that students across New Mexico have meaningful opportunities to engage with their local environments.
With over a decade of experience in the field of education, Kristy Reale focuses on integrating outdoor learning into the K–12 curriculum in a way that is both culturally sustaining and strictly aligned with state standards. Her work centers on the belief that the outdoors is a vital classroom space that can foster deeper connections to community and heritage while supporting academic excellence.
Kristy is particularly dedicated to advancing equitable access, working to ensure that all students—regardless of their geographic location or socioeconomic background—can benefit from the hands-on, experiential nature of outdoor education. By supporting teachers and districts statewide, she helps transform New Mexico’s diverse landscapes into powerful tools for student engagement and environmental stewardship.
