Educator Spotlight: Sarah Baldwin

Sarah Baldwin, an elementary school teacher at Brevard Elementary School, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification. Sarah has taught for over 20 years. When she isn’t teaching, she enjoys reading, gardening and live music.

Sarah says her favorite part of earning her certification was the instructional workshops. “I loved all the classes I took. It was interesting to me on a personal level, as well as an educator. I feel very enriched by the knowledge gained during my certification.”

The certification experience that stood out to Sarah was the 2024 Ground Level Ozone: Advanced Air Quality workshop facilitated by Keith Bamberger who is an information and communication specialist with the NC Department of Environmental Quality. “I’ve never had air pollution so succinctly explained. Also waking up to the sun rising over the Smoky Mountains was absolutely breathtaking,” says Sarah.

For her community partnership project, Sarah partnered with Erica Brock, the Youth Services Manager at the Transylvania County Library to create a program called EARTHour. The program took place during the 2024 youth summer reading initiative at the Transylvania County Library and included lessons as well as a day of volunteering at Riverfest. Sarah says she saw a need for more environmental education for students in first to sixth grades. “By working with 3rd graders as a teacher, I recognize the need for more environmental education in the curriculum. I contacted Erica at the library who agreed that the programming I had in mind was valuable in supporting their summer reading program. I was able to teach environmental education to a number of different students with a wide range of ages and backgrounds. I hope these students became excited by these lessons and will continue to learn more about the topics.”

Sarah says that the certification program changed her approach to teaching and the way she views environmental issues. “I feel my knowledge base was broadened and deepened and I hope to bring more environmental education into my own classroom whenever I can. The program also made me aware of many formally unfamiliar local and state resources. I'm humbled by the natural beauty of NC.”