DALLAS, TEXAS (July 16, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 is pleased to announce the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE) winner is Shannon Chatwin from Owasso High School located in Owasso, Oklahoma. Mrs. Chatwin has been an Advanced Placement environmental science teacher for over a decade and stimulates students’ interests in environment education with her various projects and field trips.
“With a decade of experience, Mrs. Chatwin finds creative ways to engage and inspire the next generation of environmental advocates,” said Regional Administrator Dr. Earthea Nance. “I’d like to thank Mrs. Chatwin for making her classroom a place where students learn the importance of protecting and nurturing our environment.”
Mrs. Chatwin integrates a very hands-on approach when it comes to her students. For example, to understand remediation efforts she takes her students to see the Tar Creek Superfund site, one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation. She has also taken her students to tall-grass prairies, wind farms, and alabaster caverns, and she has even hosted trips to Costa Rica and China. Mrs. Chatwin also ensures her projects during the school year are very hands-on and involve complex environmental science lessons. During one of Mrs. Chatwin’s projects, students were asked to identify 20 different leaves and insects native to Oklahoma. In a separate project, students were asked to create ecology towers to understand the impact of contaminant introduction. Additionally, Mrs. Chatwin sponsors multiple afterschool clubs with one of them being a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) club. and works with an organization called Local Environmental Action Demanded that teaches students about water quality and biodiversity.
The PIAEE recognizes outstanding kindergarten through grade 12 teachers who employ innovative approaches to environmental education and use the environment as a context for learning for their students. Since the passage of the 1990 National Environmental Education Act, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), administers this award to nationally honor, support, and encourage educators who incorporate environmental education in their classrooms and teaching methods.
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