Sustainable Economic Development Initiative is proud to announce the 2012 Winners of the Teacher Awards in Sustainable Curriculum. The four winners will receive $1,000 no strings attached award on June 1st, 2012 at the Award Ceremony at the 1899 Bar & Grill. This years winners went above and beyond sustainability in the classroom and implemented incredible sustainability projects with their classes.
Craig Bowie, a teacher at Puente de Hozho in Flagstaff, won the 2012 award for the project called, “Children Teaching Children how to Recycle.” The project integrated multiple disciplines to effectively teach what materials you can recycle locally. Students did research into local recycling programs to develop the script. They also created their own costumes and sets out of recycled materials. “This project was full of student driven creativity and innovations. The students not only wrote an original play but also became masters at improvising,” mentioned Bowie.
Another FUSD recipient was a group of teachers from Cromer Elementary School in Flagstaff including Ruth Donnelly, Bethany Walker, Jodie Bucci, and Jini Maxwell. Three kindergarten classes participated in the project called, “Celebrate the Earth: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.” The project taught 71 children the key concepts of sustainability through innovation lessons focused weaving sustainability into math, science, art, technology, and social studies. “It has been rewarding to see and hear the connections they are making as they interact with the world,” the teachers said.
Amy Larson and Britton Shepardson, two teachers from Flagstaff Junior Academy received the award for their project called. “Flagstaff Localvores: A GIS Approach to the Local Economy.” The innovative project engaged 7th and 8th graders with multidisciplinary opportunities focused on studying the costs and benefits of buying locally-made products. Larson, a science teacher, and Shepardson, a math teacher, co-designed the project to explore the economic and environmental trade-offs we have as consumers. The final project, expected to publicly accessible by August, includes an interactive Google map to help educate consumers and promote local business. “Students raised serious questions that hold both practical and theoretical importance, like “What distance constitutes local?”
A recipient from the Verde Valley, Elaine Watkins also was chosen as a winner for the 2012 TASC award. Watkins from the Sedona Red Rock High School’s project, “Integrative School Garden & Food Bank Support,” highlights the school garden now in its fourth year. What is unique and sustainable about the project is that the garden continues to grow and help not only students, but also Sedona Food Bank. A portion of the harvest is donated to the food bank and the students learned about helping other, eating healthy local foods, and how to lesson the carbon footprint through gardening. “We worked hard to fundraise to improve our garden work, including making and selling lip balms (made with desert plant essences), holding a mini-farmers market at staff meetings, taking our mesquite pods to be milled and then selling the flour, and seeking tax credit support.”
All of the applicants worked on amazing projects and lessons during the 2012 year. SEDI is proud to support such an amazing program that encourages and recognizes development and implementation of innovative educational approaches in multiple disciplines.
Thank you to the 2012 Sponsors including Flagstaff Medical Center, Verde Valley Medical Center, Calvert Investment Funds, Benefit & Financial, Wayne & Lynn Fox, and Jim Wurgler.
To become a sponsor for the 2013 TASC awards please contact
Melissa Meno – mmeno@sedinaz.org
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