Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE) 2021 Winners
Each year, EPA recognizes national winners of the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE).
2021 Winners
Read the press release about this year's winners. Congratulations!
EPA Region 1
Carly Imhoff, The Ashford School
Ashford, Connecticut
For 10 years, Science Enrichment Teacher Ms. Imhoff has created innovative, hands-on learning for students from kindergarten through 8th grade at the Ashford School in Ashford, Connecticut. Her creative teaching approaches and innovative use of technology connects her students to global environmental challenges by partnering with students from around the world through virtual exchanges.
Since the school is in a rural area and most of the students have never been to a city or travelled far from their community, Ms. Imhoff has made it a priority to engage her students in global issues and impacts while prompting her students to look for local solutions. For example, her class has interacted with a Nigerian class to discuss climate change and worked with a rural STEM school in Germany to perform data analysis to map sustainability in the U.S. and Germany and innovate local solutions. Meanwhile, during the COVID-19 pandemic, her students created outdoor classrooms and reopened a nature trail nearby the school. The students also identified and then proactively worked with the local town to reduce auto emissions around their school.
In May 2019, the Ashford School was granted the opportunity to take five students to Bermuda to study the DNA of lionfish, an invasive species. Ms. Imhoff and a colleague developed a program for her students and local Bermuda students to collaboratively design underwater robots using their engineering and science skills. These robots have been collecting data on how invasive species are affecting the environment. The robotics program has further motivated Ms. Imhoff’s students and brought awareness to the community about the Ashford School’s innovative environmental education programs.
Besides her highly successful, innovative teaching approach, Ms. Imhoff has championed school improvements through multiple roles. She has led science teachers in developing a plan for phasing in the next generation science standards (NGSS) and tying the science standards to real world, project-based learning. This resulted in building a greenhouse and designing an NGSS-aligned, interdisciplinary curriculum. Ms. Imhoff also organized STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) days at the school and created an extensive website with useful links for students and parents.
Ms. Imhoff is dedicated to hands-on learning and has received grants specifically designed to engage at-risk youth in environmental opportunities. With a degree in human ecology, Ms. Imhoff inspires the next generation to develop sustainable solutions to world problems. To this end, she has coached her students in a model fuel cell car competition and built and uses the school greenhouse to teach about food systems and sustainable agriculture. Ms. Imhoff also partnered with a local research forest so her students could learn about sustainable logging. Each year, she takes students to Long Island Sound where they take part in citizen science activities to study and observe how human behavior impacts the environment. Through her continuing education experiences in Asia, South Pacific, and South America combined with her outreach to communities in Europe and Africa, Ms. Imhoff is dedicated to continuous learning and professional development as demonstrated by her presentations at the New England League of Middle Schools, as well as The Connecticut STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Conference.
Lori LaFrance, Ipswich High School
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ms. LaFrance is the 11th and 12th grade Environmental Science teacher at Ipswich High School in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Over the last 14.5 years, Ms. LaFrance has empowered her students to take actions preserving their community’s valuable natural resources both on land and in the ocean while developing strong leadership skills and a passion for the environment.
Ms. LaFrance has created a culture where her students not only study environmentally significant issues that have affected Ipswich but take action to preserve their community’s valuable natural resources. During a town meeting, her students advocated to install electric vehicle charging stations around town and educated local governmental officials about environmental concerns. from plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam coffee cups, and plastic straws. Their efforts led to a successful ban of these items, including the town in the first wave to do so in Massachusetts. For this project, the students were celebrated as the first winners of the Ocean Spirit Award given by Women Working for Oceans at the New England Aquarium. Her students have also been invited to participate in local and regional roundtables and discussions with other stakeholders on environmentally charged topics
For several years Ms. LaFrance’s students have been active in marine-related projects including marine debris. Ms. LaFrance’s students built and tracked an oceanic drifter equipped with GPS that simulates the trajectory of commonly found marine debris. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) later used the data to update its marine debris tracking databases. Students have also been learning valuable skills through the annual project of gathering and analyzing data and presenting their findings at the annual Coastal Science Conference.
In an innovative collaboration, Ms. LaFrance and her colleague who teaches American government, have combined subjects to create classes that explore both the science and climate change policy. The course will have an interactive forum with a Massachusetts state representative who will answer students’ questions about policy making, science concepts, social justice, climate change, and environmental justice. Students will then take part in a debate over the path the U.S. should take in tackling these issues and come away with actionable next steps.
Due in part to her efforts and the development of an AP Environmental class and a Sustainability Scholars class, the Ipswich High School earned the U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon designation in 2019. However, arguably Ms. La France’s biggest achievement has been in watching her students take their passion for the environment and the various skills they learned from her and carry it forward in their careers and lives.
EPA Region 2
No 2021 winners.
EPA Region 3
No 2021 winners.
EPA Region 4
Denise Renfro, Douglas Byrd High School
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Denise Renfro is a science teacher for 9th through 12th grade at Douglas Byrd High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She draws upon her 25 years of teaching, coaching, and tech savviness to implement a unique, hands-on approach to provide opportunities for an underserved student population that collaborates with the greater community.
The Douglas Byrd High School is located in an underserved, minority, low-income community that lacks STEM opportunities and struggles with poor graduation rates, food insecurity and other issues. Over the years, Ms. Renfro has brought unique opportunities to the students, believing that they are most successful when they have access to state-of-the-art tools and technology, real-world experiential learning and are encouraged towards self-directed learning based on discipline and curiosity. She has won over $400,000 in grant funds, is an NC Energy Literacy Fellow, UNC-IE Climate Fellow, and Funds For Teachers Fellow.
Ms. Renfro’s mission is to make sure that her diverse, underserved students are learning about energy, the environment, and STEM by using new or advanced technologies; applying their knowledge through service to their community; and supplying unique educational experiences that will foster confident leadership skills and allow them to pursue meaningful careers as STEM professionals. To support this mission, Ms. Renfro helped shape the Academy of Green Technology (AoGT), a multiple grade level collaboration on place-based and experiential learning of which she is the Director.
Recently, multiple grades participated in the launch of weather balloons into the stratosphere to test the effect of extreme atmospheric conditions on seed germination. The Sun Stewards program explored solar energy and energy conservation though the use of an off-grid solar trailer. The students subsequently taught elementary students about these concepts during the yearly Earth Day Fair. The Green Team learns about and implements actions and protocols to create a healthier school environment and support recycling and water and energy conservation. Her Drone Program teaches students to fly drones, earn their drone license, work as a flight crew in energy and environmental applications, and use software applications like PIX 4D, ArcGIS, and Drone Deploy to assess data. The Greenhouse Project supports collaboration between her science classes and the Culinary Arts Department. Together, they built a greenhouse that supplies healthy and fresh vegetables for the farm-to-table program. It also provides occupational studies students an avenue for taking part in the environment. Additionally, Ms. Renfro has received grants to take her students to coastal North Carolina habitat. Only 10% of her students have been to the coast. During the trip, the students will learn about wave and wind energy, study the impacts of climate change on coastal habitats and conduct a beach erosion study.
Overall, Ms. Renfro’s efforts have made a dramatic impact on her students’ future endeavors. The AoGT graduation rate through the 2019/2020 school year is 100%, while the Douglas Byrd High School graduation rate is 74%. The AoGT student college enrollment is 70%, while the high school’s overall college enrollment is 36%. In addition, some of her students have physical, mental and/or emotional special needs and have thrived under her programs and mentoring. Ms. Renfro makes a real difference in the lives of her students!
Jason Vanzant, Bogue Sound Elementary School
Newport, North Carolina
Mr. Vanzant inspires and teaches kindergarten through 5th grade at Bogue Sound Elementary School in Newport, North Carolina. In his 13 years as an educator, he has created a “playbook” of environmental activities and resources that “scaffold” the learning process from topic to topic and grade-level to grade-level. Through his passion for the environment, Mr. Vanzant sparks student wonder, learning, and achievement! As a result of his interdisciplinary, hands-on, research- and place-based approaches to environmental education, the school district has seen dramatic shifts in academic achievement and interest in STEM classes and activities.
insight into elementary students’ needs and how to engage them through play and project-based learning scenarios that are developmentally age-appropriate is a model for all teachers. He has developed a STEM curriculum that includes environmental education, and he enthusiastically collaborates with other teachers to build STEM activities into their curricula. For example, he exposes his students to complex concepts like biomimicry and animal life cycles through experiential projects and play-based activities.
Mr. Vanzant is recognized as the only full-time STEM teacher and manages a fully compliant STEM lab. The STEM lab includes a living saltwater touch tank, a hydroponic garden system, a working rain garden, a butterfly garden, an outdoor classroom, and much more. He encourages conscious and empathetic care of all the animals they care for, allowing them to learn to care for aquatic life and gain perspective of how valuable these creatures are to the estuaries and commercial fisheries.
Mr. Vanzant has also fostered family oriented environmental experiences in the community by keeping parents involved and appraised of student projects at school and encouraging specific activities to do at home and in the neighborhood. When COVID-19 temporarily shut down his monthly parent STEM nights, Mr. Vanzant sent out citizen science activities to do at home.
His efforts have helped the Bogue Sounds Elementary School be designated as a NOAA Ocean Guardian School, the only school in its county designated as such. With NOAA approval and funding, Mr. Vanzant led his students to composting and debris collection projects at the school. His students presented their findings and ways to improve future efforts to the Board of Education. Mr. Vanzant regularly invites scientific professionals to share their research and passion with his students, piquing the students’ interest to consider for their own careers in the future. Mr. Vanzant has developed close ties with local environmental organizations that have afforded the students amazing opportunities at the Duke University Marine Laboratory, the Cape Lookout National Seashore Park, NOAA, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, the Pine Knolls Shore Aquarium, and the North Carolina Coastal Reserve. He has also fostered a partnership with the Aquaculture Department at the Carteret Community College.
EPA Region 5
Kelly Holtzman
Oconomowoc High School (AP), Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Kelly Holtzman is a dedicated mentor for students and teachers alike, fostering an innovative, multi-disciplinary global environmental education curriculum at Oconomowoc High School in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. As the co-winner of the 2020 Wisconsin Energy Educator of the Year award, Ms. Holtzman is known as a passionate educator who strives to develop her students into empathetic, informed global citizens. To that end, she designs her courses to offer interactive and meaningful place-based environmental educational experiences both inside the classroom, around the community and around the world.
With a passion for teaching environmental awareness beyond the classroom, she partnered with a colleague in the world language department and co-created and taught an Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science bilingual global sustainability course. The course is anchored in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and connects students with nonprofit organizations and community partners. The Global Sustainability Course students work with the local Chamber of Commerce to promote recycling through social media postings and educational activities for the business and residential communities. The students learn about recycling through classroom activities and tour a materials recovery facility. Her students hand out re-usable bags to the community, while sending the collected non-reusable plastic bag to a recycling center. In addition, Ms. Holtzman has created courses covering the interface of limited natural resources and immigration, as well as how water pollution is impacted by fast fashion and fair trade.
Throughout the years, Ms. Holtzman continues to bring new interactive state and regional programs and projects to her school and students such as the Cools Choices program (to encourage environmentally healthy habits in Wisconsin schools); the TREX Plastic Film Challenge (to collect, document and recycle school plastics), a grant-funded farm-to-table field trip, hands-on field sampling and monitoring activities, and the Boomerang Bag project (to encourage reusable bags and reduce disposable plastic bags). Students have interacted with university departments, local and state government departments as well as professionals in the sustainability and natural resources fields to expand the students’ education as well as expose them to potential career opportunities. She has even co-hosted environmentally focused trips to the Dominican Republic, Iceland, Germany, and Costa Rica. All these unique opportunities along with her innovative courses provide active learning opportunities enabling her students to make connections and exchange ideas as they collaborate with peers and develop valuable team building and communication skills within the community.
For example, her students have worked with the Citizen’s Utility Board of Wisconsin, translating their community education materials into Spanish; prepared bilingual energy clinics for the local community; and worked with the Waukesha County Green Team to create bilingual podcasts, informing the community about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These opportunities give Ms. Holtzman’s students the ability to bridge their academic learning with serving the real world needs of educating Wisconsin’s underserved citizens on pressing topics, such as energy conservation and how to avoid energy scams.
EPA Region 6
No 2021 winners.
EPA Region 7
No 2021 winners.
EPA Region 8
No 2021 winners.
EPA Region 9
No 2021 winners.
EPA Region 10
No 2021 winners.