Sally Boswell says farewell to Center for the Inland Bays
After 12 years promoting the health of Delaware's Inland Bays, Sally Boswell is moving on to the next adventure.
The Lewes resident spent the last decade promoting Delaware Center for the Inland Bays initiatives, including educational programs at the James Farm Ecological Preserve, starting the Your Creek citizen-science teams and producing dozens of publications for the center.
“This job became how I related to the community,” Boswell said, noting that she joined the center's staff in 2004, just two years after moving to Rehoboth Beach as a full-time resident. “This was how I related to the towns and different groups, and gained a unique perspective on the Inland Bays watershed.”
Boswell, who most recently worked as the center's outreach and education coodinator, said she's not quite sure where she'll go next, but she hopes to get more involved in the communities she's learned to love, especially through active participation on the county's comprehensive plan update.
“There's endless possibilities of things to do,” Boswell said. “I feel like the whole country is at a transition point. Sussex County is experiencing rapid change. Whatever it is, I won't do anything I don't feel passionate about at this point in my career.”
Before joining the center, Boswell worked in public relations for public television, tourism agencies and Johns Hopkins University, among other professional ventures in the Baltimore area, including co-founding a survey business.
Growing up in the rural outskirts of Baltimore, Boswell said, her love for the environment began at an early age as a self-described free-range child.
“I grew up at a time when kids left in the morning and didn't come back until you were hungry or it got dark,” she said. “I had tremendous freedom.”
Boswell said she spent her days alongside her childhood best friend exploring the nearby woods, building tree houses and writing stories in in the barn loft.
“I'm really proud of our James Farm program because I know how powerful it is to be exposed to the outdoors and nature when you're younger,” she said. “I know what an incredible, powerful influence it was in my life in every way. My relationship to the outdoors has made me who I am. It's like I got brackish water in my veins really early on.”
Boswell's first hiring decision for the center was adding an educator for seasonal programs at James Farm, a job she had grown to deeply admire, thanks to a stint herself as an outdoor educator at Indian River School District's Ingram Pond Outdoor Education Center.
Pat Drizd, Boswell's first hire in 2005, said Boswell's passion has been contagious, and inspired her to get involved in the center's annual horseshoe crab survey, the Native Plant Sale, which Boswell piloted, and plantings for community rain gardens and schoolyard habitats. While Drizd no longer teaches, she has remained involved with the center as volunteer coordinator and a devoted volunteer herself.
“I've always believed a person should act on their passions, and it's inspired me to do more,” Drizd said. “It was just a joy working with Sally.”
While Boswell said she's keeping options open for her next move, she is sure that she will remain visible in the community, whether that means leading independent outreach efforts in her adopted hometown of Lewes or exploring some of her favorite Cape Region spots through kayaking adventures.
“I just haven't picked my pretty yet,” Boswell said, quoting a phrase used by Drizd's late father. “This is just the end of one incredible chapter and the beginning of another. I think the bays are in good hands.”
