Macy Noll, illustrator of Fort Myers Beach children’s nature and activity book, honored by MERTF with Murphy Award

Feb 7, 2025 By Nathan Mayberg 3 min read

Florida Gulf Coast University student Macy Noll, who illustrated the Fort Myers Beach children's activity and nature book put together by the Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force (MERTF), was honored by MERTF with the board's Murphy Award. Photo provided

The Town of Fort Myers Beach Marine and Environmental Resources Task Force (MERTF) has honored Macy Noll with its distinguished Murphy Award for her contributions to the town as the illustrator of the children’s coloring and activity book about nature that the committee published last year.

A student at Florida Gulf Coast University, Noll was hired to provide the illustrations inside the well-received book that was spearheaded by MERTF Vice Chair Jennifer Rusk.

“She illustrated the very first Fort Myers Beach Children’s Activity Book,” Rusk said. “These books are more important than ever to help educate and to environmentally encourage the Community & Visitors to be more involved and responsible. This benefits us all,” Rusk said.

“Illustrating this environmentally educational activity booklet was such a joy,” Noll said. “It was particularly nostalgic because my first artworks were definitely crayon scribbles in a coloring book. I’ve always had such an appreciation for the natural world thanks to the nature documentaries my grandparents always put on for me and I would have loved a coloring booklet that also illustrated the ecological concepts that held me so captivated in those films. Creating educational material that describes local ecosystems as opposed to general concepts was even more touching as a Florida native who wasn’t taught about the place I lived growing up. The opportunity to give Southwest Florida kids the coloring book I never had when I was little has been so precious. I hope it can inspire the same sense of ecological identity I’ve come to find as an artist and marine biologist in the making.”

Noll, who attended high school in Orlando, is pursuing a dual degree in art and biology. “It’s my passion for both subjects and exploring their intersection that has led me into the field of environmental education. Art has endless communicative potential in this arena, and illustrating children’s coloring books is just one avenue for improving environmental appreciation.”

Noll currently works as a research assistant and scientific scuba diver for Vester Marine and Environmental Research Field Station. Noll said the work inspires her art. She is also a muralist and is working on an installation highlighting and advocating for marine conservation. “The installation is a collaborative exhibition I’m curating, painting, and assembling for Vester. We have an artificial reef five miles offshore in the Gulf where a lot of our research takes place.”

Noll called the MERTF activity booklet “a joy-filled project” and has received a lot of positive feedback. “It has been an incredible resource for educators across the island and beyond, and I look forward to similar projects in the future,” Noll said.

Rusk said more than 18,000 books have been distributed to local educators, schools, libraries businesses, nonprofits and visitors to Fort Myers Beach.

“These children’s activity books were made possible through the efforts of the Marine and Environmental Resource Task Force Committee, the town staff, Fort Myers Beach Community Foundation, Turtle Time Inc., CROW and many others,” Rusk said.