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While at her job as at the Forest Workforce Training Institute, Stephanie Fuller and her boss were trying to figure out a way to try to get more children excited about forestry. Usually, the  Forest Workforce Training Institute goes to a career fair for eighth-grade students, but the past few years, it started to notice that eighth-grade students were already closed off to forestry as a career path.

While brainstorming new ideas to get youth involved in forestry, Fuller’s boss came up with the idea for a children’s book. Fuller told her boss she would do it as long as she could write her father’s career in forestry.

From there, she wrote “Lucy Meets a Logger,” which has information about the good that the forestry industry does.

“I grew up in Chambers County. My dad is a logger. Forestry is really big here and my entire family is in forestry,” Fuller said. “I’m fourth generation forestry. It is a book about what I learned from my dad growing up in the woods.”

Since the start of March, Fuller and the Alabama Forestry Association have been going to different elementary schools promoting “Lucy Meets a Logger.” On Monday, the tour wrapped up in Chambers County. Along with Fuller and AFA, State Representative Debbie Wood and State Senator Randy Price joined for the final stops of the tour on Monday, visiting Fairfax, Bob-Harding Shawmut and Huguley Elementary Schools. Overall, Fuller and AFA have made 20 different stops.

“It was a great time to be at the Huguley Elementary School. I enjoyed being here with all these children to talk about forestry and the product that is very important to us here in the state of Alabama,” State Senator Randy Price said. “We don’t stop and think about how many products are made every day by forestry and how many people right here in Chambers County participate in making sure those products get to each and every family in our district. I enjoyed being here to sharing with these young children today.”

Huguley was the final stop. At the end of the student’s questions, Wood surprised Fuller with a balloon release, as Fuller attended Huguley Elementary as a child.

“It was really cool. It’s been really humbling of how supportive everyone around the state has been for this book. Forestry is the second largest manufacturing industry in the state of Alabama and the largest agricultural industry in the state of Alabama,” Fuller said. “It was really cool to go into these schools and see the reaction from kids that knew about forestry and those who didn’t. This is the last stop of this school year so we really wanted to make it special. Her doing the balloon release, I was not expecting to do that. The support that we’ve got from our hometown and our county has been so humbling, and I am so honored to be from here. There are not many places that you can go where your senator and representative do a balloon release for you. I’m honored and so humbled and so thankful that I got to grow up here and learn about forestry.”

The students were able to release roughly 50 green balloons into the sky to celebrate the book and forestry.