DEQ Celebrates Earth Day with the Release of the State K-12 Environmental Literacy Plan

Fuquay-Varina- State and local leaders gathered today at Lincoln Heights Environmental Connections Magnet Elementary School to celebrate Earth Day with students and release the state’s new K-12 Environmental Literacy Plan.

“The Environmental Literacy Plan is a roadmap for increasing environmental understanding and preparing students for STEM careers,” said DEQ Secretary Elizabeth S. Biser.  “Lincoln Heights is a successful model of the schools exemplified in the Plan and the perfect place to celebrate Earth Day and the release of the updated plan.”

This 2024 revision of the original 2010 Environmental Literacy Plan was a collaboration between the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the nonprofit Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC), which serves as the state’s professional association for environmental education.

The Plan provides schools and nonformal educators guidance for increasing environmental literacy and preparing students for environmental and STEM careers.

Lincoln Heights provided the ideal site to release the new plan. The school has incorporated an environmental connections magnet theme since the 2017-18 school year, and the original Environmental Literacy Plan was used to develop the program.

The Plan encourages collaborations between schools, local businesses and organizations, environmental education centers, colleges and universities, conservation organizations, and nonformal educators--individuals such as park and forest rangers, museum educators, Soil and Water District educators, local stormwater and recycling educators and others.

All of the speakers at today’s event highlighted the collaborative nature of the Plan and the environmental connections Magnet Program at Lincoln Heights. Lincoln Heights third graders shared ways to reduce food waste and the fifth grade GROW ambassadors invited guests to add pollinator plants to the school’s garden planters.

Dr. Kimberly Lane, Senior Director for Magnet and Curriculum Enhancement programs, Wake County Public School System; Dr. Kristi Day, Director of Academic Standards with DPI; Nikki Jones, interim executive director for EENC; EENC President Kyra Thurow Bartow; Fuquay-Varina Mayor Blake Massengill; Principal Scott Gaiten and Laura Wood, Environmental Connections Integration Specialist, joined Secretary Biser to celebrate the release of the plan.

https://www.eenorthcarolina.org/ 

Educator Spotlight: Adam Hubert

Adam Hubert, a middle school science teacher at Hope Academy GSO, recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification Program. In addition to being a science teacher, Adam is also an instructional coach and athletic director. “I teach and instructional coach from an experiential learning lens. I have a passion for connecting folks to the natural world.”

Adam says his favorite part of the certification program was getting to see the beauty of North Carolina. “The range of classes allowed me to connect with other like-minded professionals in all three regions of the state. This helped me grow in deeper appreciation for our state and to think creatively about ways to get my students to engage with the state.”

When asked about the certification experience that stood out for him, Adam says it was the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Educators of Excellence programs. “From snorkeling with hellbenders in the Blue Ridge mountains to helping NC State conduct research on the Neuse River Waterdog, these are experiences that helped shape how I viewed my role as a formal educator and how to engage with folks in the natural world.”

For his community partnership project, Adam helped to establish a cover board research transect at Knight Brown Nature Preserve. “As a frequent visitor to the Knight Brown Nature Preserve, I fell in love with the vernal pools and all the life that springs from them. As I built a relationship with the Piedmont Land Conservancy, I learned there was no formal data collection on the vernal pools on the property. I saw this as not only a growth opportunity for the conservancy but also my 8th grade students at Hope Academy GSO who deserve real world experiences collecting data and caring for the natural world. This led me to facilitate a cover board research project around two of the vernal pools on the property of Knight Brown Nature Preserve. My classes will be able to collect real world data and PLC will have some documentation on the amphibian breeding that happens in the vernal pools in the spring and fall.” Each spring and fall the 8th grade class at Hope Academy will monitor the amphibian migration to the vernal pools at the preserve.

Adam says the program changed his approach to teaching. “The principles of environmental education were important to my scope as a formal educator. Whether I am teaching about the natural world or not, I try to implement those principles into the classroom. The amazing nonformal educators that lead many of these courses, also model great teaching that I always bring back to my classroom. Whether it is learning how to nature journal with Melissa Dowland or taking a PLT (Project Learning Tree) course with Renee Strnad, I am always eager to bring back something I learned in these courses back to my students.”

Adam says the program also changed the way he views environmental issues. “When I first started teaching, I thought students needed to be bombarded with all the issues and crises happening on our planet. This program emphasized the importance of building a connection, knowledge and capacity before discussing the issues. A student won't care that vernal pools are not a protected wetland unless they have seen the bevy of life that depend on those ecosystems.”

Educator Spotlight: Brandy Oldham

Brandy Oldham, District Administrator and Education Coordinator with Chatham County Soil and Water Conservation District, recently completed her NC Environmental Education Certification.

Brandy serves as a clerk to the district’s Board of Supervisors and throughout the year, she coordinates educational events. Some of the highlights of her educational work includes volunteering each year at the annual Envirothon competition, holding events during Creek Week and coordinating the yearly conservation contents. Brandy especially enjoys working with groups. “I love doing hands-on lessons with groups. I’ve been focused on doing watershed lessons using our EnviroScape but I also do Stream Watch which is a blast.” In her personal time, Brandy likes to learn all she can about birds and plants. “I keep a flock of backyard chickens and they bring me so much joy. I also love to read, I'll read almost anything, but my favorite books are thrillers/mysteries.”

When asked about her favorite part of the program, Brandy says it was the Investigating Your Environment workshop offered by the NC Forest Service. “I met so many amazing and kind people there. I still think about all the fun we had learning about different topics during the week.” She says going to Linville Falls and Grandfather Mountain were incredible experiences that made a lasting impression on her.”

Brandy says the Methods of Teaching Environmental Education workshop was an experience that stood out for her. “The methods workshop gave me so much confidence in myself and great information about being a certified environmental educator.”

For her community partnership project, Brandy created a Creek Geeks program. This was a three-hour hands-on event that she plans to hold each year at a local park or greenway. The program includes lessons on water quality and preventing water pollution and it also includes a small trash clean up. Brandy hopes to continue adding partners to the event.

Brandy says that the program changed her approach to teaching by stressing the importance of hands-on learning as a way of nurturing respect and understanding of the natural world and encouraging a sense of responsibility for protection for our natural resources.

She also says the program changed the way she views environmental issues. “I see many sides of issues now, after the first thought pops in my head and becomes my primary feeling towards something, I've learned to step outside of that and try to find other views and positions and dive deeper into an issue. I feel more well-rounded and capable of finding out more about certain issues.”

Educator Spotlight: Sammy Bauer

Sammy Bauer, a stormwater educator for the Town of Chapel Hill, recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification. Sammy says they have a fun job. “I spend my days teaching folks about water pollution prevention and, where possible, helping them nurture their own relationships with our land and waterways.” Sammy is also an impact producer and sometimes director at Ethereal Films where they have released two documentary shorts about forever chemicals that have gone on tour nationwide and beyond. Sammy enjoys spending time at the Eno River, rock climbing, and crafting.

When asked about the best part of the program, Sammy says it was attending the air quality workshop twice. “The first time, I had just fallen into nonformal environmental education after teaching 6th grade language arts and getting a Master of Public Administration. I knew a lot about teaching and engaging audiences, but I knew next to no content. The first time I went to the workshop in 2019, I was soaking up every bit of content I could. I learned how to find salamanders under tree cookies and about the plants used to monitor air pollution at Purchase Knob! I'd never considered air quality much before the workshop. It was a highlight of the certification and also of life in general. The second time I went several years later, I knew much more content. While I still learned many new things - yes please, tardigrades - I centered my learning on the process such as how they built the agenda and what went into coordinating such a big trip. This time, I walked away with a deeper understanding of how to create learning opportunities that bring people closer to the land.”

Sammy says the experience in the program that stood out was the support of the environmental education community. “I immediately felt welcomed and supported at every workshop and especially at the Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC) conference. I'm also a big fan of the different criteria. From process to content, structured experiences to self-guided exploration, the certificate feels well-balanced. It's thorough yet accessible, structured yet flexible.”

For the community partnership project, Sammy coordinated the 3^rd annual Orange County Creek Week, March 16-23, 2024. Creek Week is a weeklong celebration of local waterways that involves events organization, partnership development, communication and education, community engagement, documentation and evaluation. “The events consist of workshops, cleanups, art sessions, and habitat assessment workshops. We design the events to help folks nurture their own relationships with the waterways and land.”

Sammy says that partnerships with community organizations are extremely important. The planning team includes local governments, UNC, and nonprofits.  The team distributed educational materials to raise awareness about watersheds and stormwater pollution. Community members were actively involved, and the project's impact is evaluated and documented. “This year, we had over 1200 people (and 30 dogs) participate in our events - including 10 trash cleanups that removed over 1500 pounds of trash from our waterways - nearly doubling our impact from last year. Using resources from EENC’s Universal Design for Learning course, we structured accessibility into every step of the planning process.” Sammy is also working on a project guide that will help other communities plan their own Creek Week.

Sammy says the program changed how they approach teaching and notes several workshops that made a significant impact. “DEQ’s Ground Level Ozone workshop showed me how multiday experiences can deepen folks’ relationship to the more-than-human world and how to run a fun community science program. The BEETLES program’s learning cycle and BFF questions (questions that will be your Best Friends Forever to encourage wonder, exploration, discussion, and reflection) transformed the way I approach teaching. EENC’s Universal Design for Learning course helped restructure all my events to better meet the needs of more people.”