2008 Outstanding Educators

Ina Ahern, New Hampshire

Ina Ahern teaches chemistry, physics, and environmental science at Plymouth Regional High School. With a passion for and commitment to the environment, she has made local issues a large part of her curriculum through an integrated, place-based, and hands-on approach.

A high school science teacher for 25 years, Ina often makes presentations to other educators about how to incorporate the local environment into teaching. In 2006, she was one of a pioneer group of teachers to participate in the yearlong program, A Forest for Every Classroom, cosponsored in New Hampshire by PLT, the U.S. Forest Service, and Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, and has since formally presented her experiences to incoming teachers.

Ina is a teacher who embodies the ethic of lifelong learning and works very hard to foster this love of learning in her students. For Ina, the outdoors is an extension of the classroom, and studying the natural environment and the local community is a key strategy for bringing academics to life.

Ina used her Forest for Every Classroom experience to strengthen the field-study project her students conduct on their local watershed each year, building strong ties between the school, its community, and local resource people— a great reflection of how PLT materials can best be used.

Ina is committed to making environmental education a part of New Hampshire schools.  Last year, she participated in a summer institute to sequence and correlate PLT activities (along with four other environmental education program materials) to New Hampshire’s science frameworks for grades K-12.  She also participates in the Merrimack River Watershed Ecology program and collaborates with the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest to adapt their biogeochemical forest ecosystem research for the high school classroom.

Watch Ina's acceptance speech at the 2008 PLT international Coordinators' Conference

Brita Hampton, Virginia

Brita Hampton was first trained in PLT in 2004 when she arranged a workshop for 25 teachers from six Catholic schools in her area.  Since then, she has organized numerous environmental education (EE) trainings for teachers at Star of the Sea and other area schools. As the Science Coordinator, Brita engages teachers and students at all grade levels in PLT and other EE activities. She finds ways to involve her students in the community, such as asking them to present and display their work at EE professional conferences that are organized in the local surrounding areas.

You may remember in May of 2006, over 30 of the school’s students in all nine grade levels presented at one of the general sessions during PLT’s International Coordinators’ Conference in Virginia Beach.  The students shared their learning experiences from six PLT activities they completed that semester in their classrooms.  They provided PLT state coordinators, facilitators, and educators from around the country with classroom-tested feedback on PLT’s revised PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. 

Last November, Brita organized a display of over two hundred pieces of student artwork produced by conducting seven different PLT activities.  This artwork was on display for the 1,100 participants at the 2007 North American Association for Environmental Education Conference (NAAEE), also held in Virginia Beach.  At the NAAEE Conference, Brita and her students could be found in the exhibit hall teaching PLT PreK-8 Guide’s Activity 51 “Make Your Own Paper.”
 
In 2006, Brita attended a week-long Forestry Camp sponsored by the Virginia Department of Forestry that included advanced training in PLT.  Upon her return, she implemented several activities in her Summer Science Program and facilitated a workshop for other teachers to share what she learned.  As a result, Brita and other Star of the Sea teachers regularly incorporate PLT activities, resources, and ideas into their classes and their students now spend more time learning outdoors.

Watch Brita's acceptance speech at the 2008 PLT International Coordinators' Conference

Rob Marohn, Minnesota

Rob Marohn was first introduced to PLT while in college, and he now uses PLT activities with his students every week. Rob is a tireless advocate for the Bay View School Forest and is also its primary steward.  He encourages all teachers to use the forest site and has helped provide training for fellow educators on how to teach in an outdoor setting to enhance classroom learning, including hosting a two-day PLT “How to Teach in Your School Forest” workshop.

Rob uses PLT in two programs he created for students: Forest Buddies, in which 5th graders take younger students into the forest and conduct PLT activities, and the after-school Bay View School Forest Club that offers activities focusing on recreation, education, and conservation with different grade levels each month.

Rob’s students have made several presentations to the Proctor and Duluth City Councils on issues affecting forests, watershed health, and land development. Rob himself is currently working with the State of Minnesota, St. Louis County, and City of Duluth to secure an additional 90 acres for the Proctor School District to utilize as a school forest.

In addition to planning for an eight-week Urban Wilderness Summer Camp and managing bins full of worms used for vermicomposting, this spring Rob has also kept busy helping his students to prepare five gallons of maple syrup for their annual community pancake breakfast. The funds generated from this event are used towards their class field trip— a two night stay at an environmental learning center.   
 
Rob was appointed by the mayor to the City of Duluth Tree Commission.  He is also a board member of the Superior Hiking Trail Association and Hartley Nature Center, as well as a City of Duluth Parks and recreation volunteer.  Rob has helped edit several curriculum guides used statewide, including the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Minnesota School Forest Handbook.  He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Education: Natural Science and Environmental Education degree at Hamline University.

Watch Rob's acceptance speech at the 2008 PLT International Coordinators' Conference

Susan Ward, South Carolina

Susan Ward has been involved with PLT since the start of her teaching career in the late 1980s, when she helped field test many of the activities that became part of the revised PLT PreK-8 Guide. She uses PLT with her students in the outdoors—on field excursions, camping trips, and in Whittemore Park Middle School’s outdoor classrooms and gardens that she helped to create.

In 2005, Susan worked with the Horry County School District to get PLT activities incorporated into the curriculum as examples of how to include the natural environment within state standards and, as a result, increase student achievement scores. She trained all the district’s middle school science teachers to use PLT activities effectively. She has also conducted many other PLT workshops,
training over 200 educators in the Coastal area of South Carolina,
as well as Girl Scout leaders.

At Whittemore Park and two other schools where she has also been a teacher, Daisy Elementary and Loris Middle, Susan has launched school-wide recycling programs for paper, plastics, and metal. She teaches students to conserve energy, and takes them on field trips to the Horry County Waste Management site to make them more aware of their civic responsibility as environmental stewards. At Daisy Elementary School, Susan helped to develop and maintain a nature trail and led her students in the planning and creation of a backyard habitat. At Loris Middle School she created an outdoor classroom area and worked with her students to create a garden for environmental studies.

For the past seven years, Susan has presented her personal experiences using PLT to science teachers attending the South Carolina Science Conference. She helped correlate PLT materials to South Carolina’s curriculum standards and has continually provided leadership within the South Carolina PLT program. Susan presently serves on the South Carolina PLT Steering Committee as an educational representative, a position she has held for the last two years.

Watch Susan's acceptance speech from the 2008 PLT International Coordinators' Conference

Cherie Wyatt, Colorado

Cherie Wyatt’s students consistently score above the state average on the science portion of their state assessment tests.  Cherie infuses PLT and other environmental education materials into her teaching, often taking her students outside to reinforce classroom learning. For example, her students helped plant milkweed in a vacant lot fronting the school to create a habitat for Monarch butterflies.

Cherie initiated a now-annual water festival for her students in which 8th graders help teach younger students about water resources. Cherie leads all her 8th grade students through five activities, after which they choose one to present to small groups of 5th, 6th, and 7th graders.

Cherie also has a strong commitment to helping other teachers.  She organizes and presents professional development workshops to fellow educators, as well as to preservice teachers at the University of Northern Colorado. She introduces them to high quality environmental education materials and teaching practices, and arranges speakers in the subjects of general science, elementary science, and secondary science, to increase teachers’ understanding of ecological concepts and their ability to incorporate related activities into the classroom.

Four years ago, Cherie helped create a program for teachers called the High Plains TEN (Teaching Environmental-Science Naturally), which demonstrates how to make better use of local resources and area experts to improve student learning.  Each year a different theme is chosen for a four-day, two-credit class that introduces teachers to speakers; gives them field experiences at nearby sites; and provides them with environmental education materials; and mentoring to help them integrate environmental education into their curriculum.

Cherie is an active member of the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, the National Science Teachers Association, the National Wildlife Federation, they Colorado Association of Science Teachers, and the Colorado Association of Biology Teachers. 

Watch Cherie's acceptance speech from the 2008 PLT International Coordinators' Conference