Classroom Earth Success Stories

“I would like to thank the National Environmental Education Foundation for naming me as the 2011 Richard C. Bartlett Environmental Education Award winner. 

Susy Ellison is a teacher at Yampah Mountain High School, not your typical “green school.” The average student at this alternative high school in Glenwood Springs, Colo. has not been successful in a traditional high school, for a variety of reasons. Many are teen parents.

Educator Gabriel Benn, also known as the hip-hop artist Asheru, has been with the District of Columbia Public School District for over 13 years as both a teacher and administrator. He founded the Hip-Hop Educational Literacy Program (H.E.L.P.), which uses hip-hop songs to create culturally relevant lesson plans, covering topics from music history to environmental conservation, for inner-city youth.

Three educators at Marin School of the Arts and Technology Charter High School (MSAT), near San Francisco, California, are using project-based learning to teach students about the watersheds of the San Francisco Bay region. Media instructor Tony Harris, science teacher Adrianna Smyth, and English teacher Justin Wells, have developed an inter-disciplinary approach to bringing environmental education into the curriculum.

STEM education

Karen Adams is the SMART (Science Math Arts Reading Technology) Lab Facilitator at Friendship Public Charter School’s Blow Pierce Junior Academy in Washington, D.C. The SMART Lab consists of two classroom spaces packed with technology and scientific equipment. Students use the lab once a week for a 90-minute period to work on projects that relate to a career track or that pique their interest.