The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 has announced Shannon Chatwin from Owasso High School in Owasso, Oklahoma, as the winner of the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE). Mrs. Chatwin, an Advanced Placement environmental science teacher with over a decade of experience, engages students in environmental education through 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 employs a hands-on approach in her teaching methods. She takes students to sites such as the Tar Creek Superfund site, tall-grass prairies, wind farms, and alabaster caverns to understand remediation efforts and other environmental concepts. Her educational trips have also included destinations like Costa Rica and China.
Her classroom projects are equally immersive; one project required students to identify 20 different leaves and insects native to Oklahoma, while another involved creating ecology towers to study contaminant impacts. Additionally, she sponsors multiple afterschool clubs, including a STEM club, and collaborates with Local Environmental Action Demanded to teach students about water quality and biodiversity.
The PIAEE honors exceptional kindergarten through grade 12 teachers who use innovative approaches to environmental education. Since the passage of the National Environmental Education Act in 1990, this award has been administered by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) in partnership with the EPA.
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