About Our Tern
“Our Tern” is a coalition founded by Hoboken residents Jeffrey Train, Noelle Thurlow, and Juan Melli focused on promoting the natural environment in the Mile Square City.
Jeffrey Train
Co-founder
Jeffrey Train (AKA) Mr. Train is a Hoboken resident and birder. He is the Founder of Mr. Train’s Life Lessons for Better Birding & Beyond: a program designed to inspire love and curiosity for the natural world by revealing hidden nature, including in urban settings. Jeffrey is a cofounder of Freedom Birders, a project inspired by the Civil Rights movement that seeks to reveal the intersections between people, birds, history, and spaces.
Jeffrey is an award-winning educator: a Princeton University Distinguished Secondary School Teacher Finalist, a Governor’s Award nominee, an Academy for Teachers Fellow, and the winner of Bergen Audubon’s Teacher Appreciation Award. Jeffrey has led birding walks in NY’s Central Park among other places, and he has led walks and talks at the Cape May Spring and Fall Birding Festivals. In addition, Jeff is an activist who has spearheaded the movement to eliminate the plastic bag in Hoboken, the first such legislation in the state of New Jersey. In his leisure time, he enjoys birding with his family and looking forward to finding his 100th species of bird in his home city of Hoboken.
Noelle Thurlow
Co-founder
Noelle Thurlow is the founder and director of Resilience Adventures, which fosters a deeper connection to the natural world through kayaking, paddleboarding, and hands-on STEM programs on the Hudson River. Resilience works to enhance and protect access to the nature that exists in cities, particularly through our urban waterways. Specifically the organization focuses on connecting urban populations to the Hudson River estuary and other NY/NJ local waters through outdoor recreation combined with community science.
Previously Noelle developed/guided Outward Bound sea-kayak courses in Boston Harbor; REI Outdoor School programs for the tri-state area; and multi-day land and sea expeditions internationally.
She recently completed a master’s degree in urban ecology/conservation, which allows her to bring useful data/analysis to her community service efforts as a member of the Hoboken Green Team and other citizens’ advisory boards.
Juan Melli
Co-founder
Juan is a Hoboken resident passionate about the outdoors and connecting people to nature. An avid hiker and backpacker, he has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, backpacked Nüümü Poyo (aka the John Muir Trail), and volunteers as a maintainer on the Appalachian Trail.
In the course of spending so much time outdoors, nature photography has become a hobby and passion, and his photos have been published by Backpacker Magazine, The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey, and the New York – New Jersey Trail Conference.
Closer to home, he was captivated by the idea of finding nature in our densely populated urban spaces and capturing the extent of the ecological diversity and wildlife that often goes unnoticed in our collective backyards.
Juan also serves as a board member of the Hoboken Community Center, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, and Team Wilderness.
