To nominate yourself or an educator you know for EDN's Feature Teacher, please email education [at] earthday.net with a brief description explaining her/his work for environmental education. Details should include the following nominee information:

• Background, education, and awards or grants received
• Personal and professional contribution to the environment
• A photo headshot

EDN accepts nominations for any individuals who work with youth and the environment, such as teachers, librarians, after-school personnel, and community leaders. Winners will be featured in the next edition of the Teacher's Quarterly and receive a gift basket of educational resources for your classroom!

Vikki Knight

This edition’s feature teacher is Vikki Knight of Miles State High School in Queensland, Australia.  As a teacher of Agriculture Science and a member of the Culture and Environment Committee, Ms. Knight has worked tirelessly to bring environmental focus to her school with cleaner energy, recycling and environmental education.  These efforts were instrumental in making Miles State High School the Greenest and Healthiest School in Queensland for 2006.

In the past she has developed a school garden and composting program and has also organized events like School Clean Up Day.  This year Ms. Knight is using awarded funds to bring bicycles and solar power to the school as well as to develop a Hydroponics Fodder Farm to educate students on water-saving techniques. It’s no surprise that Ms. Knight was the 2007 recipient of the Terry Palmer Award for outstanding efforts in environmental conservation and we hope she will serve as a model to other students and teachers in the US and abroad.

Leo Bernabei

We are proud to announce that this fall’s Feature Teacher is Leo Bernabei, Radnor Township School District’s Director of Operations.  In charge of facilities maintenance and construction, Leo has worked hard over the past decade to educate his community about responsible, environmentally friendly learning spaces for our children: green schools.

With features such as a green roof, geothermal heating and cooling system, and repurposed and recycled building materials, Leo is pursuing LEED Gold certification for Radnor Middle School.  With ongoing efforts to promote school greening, Leo leads the charge in providing the very best learning environments for children in the Radnor school district.

Becky Evans

This edition’s Feature Teacher is Becky Evans, a sixth grade science teacher at Granville Intermediate School in Granville, OH.  As the recipient of over $10,000 in grant money from the Granville Education Fund and a 2006 Frontiers in Physiology research program winner, Becky has led her students in inventive approaches to studying the environmental health of their community.  To demonstrate hydropower and wind energy, Becky worked with her students to create a working water wheel and their own wind turbines!  Another example of Becky’s work is her published investigation of noise pollution in her school’s newly-renovated cafeteria.  In Becky’s words, “everyone is naturally a scientist because everyone possesses a natural curiosity.  By keeping the learning process fun and involving students in research and design projects that work, they will see the environmental impact their actions have and that they do make a difference.”

Each season, EDN will spotlight one outstanding member of our 100,000+ Educator’s Network. We are proud to announce that this summer’s first Feature Teacher is Karen Howell of Hillel Academy in Fairfield, CT. Mrs. Howell is Hillel’s mighty, one-woman science department and a recipient of multiple awards that include middle school science teacher of the year by the Connecticut Science Teachers Association. She frequently witnesses her students win state science fair competitions, year after year. Mrs. Howell encourages her students to learn how to express themselves through science and seek out topics that interest them. For example, a group of Mrs. Howell’s students have reached the semi-finals in the Christopher Columbus Awards for their project, “Sound Savers,” which focuses on the threats to the Long Island Sound’s environmental health. Mrs. Howell has been featured in the New York Times and most recently established a greenhouse at Hillel. Her tireless devotion to her students and science has made Mrs. Howell a hallmark of Hillel Academy and an asset to the environmental education community.