Chesapeake Bay News

The National Park Foundation (NPF) has awarded three grants totaling $39,700 to national parks in Maryland.  Among the funding is in $10,450 grants to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park and the Catoctin Mountain Park, respectively. The grant will be applied to assist area teachers in developing service-learning projects and other lesson plans involving the parks.

The NPF’s Park Stewards Grants to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park and the Catoctin Mountain Park will provide high school teachers with immersive training throughout the summer in the parks, where they will learn about each park and then develop park-related service-learning projects and lesson plans to be implemented in the upcoming school year.

Students from Allegany County Public Schools will explore the cultural, natural and architectural elements of the C&O National Historic Park, while students from North Hagerstown High School will participate in a hands-on environmental program focusing on invasive plants at Catoctin Mountain Park.

source: Senator Barbara A. Mikulski press release

On January 20, 2011, the Chesapeake Bay Trust announced its 2011 Annual Awards Program winners, including its Environmental Educator of the Year, Student of the Year and Honorable Arthur Dorman Scholarship recipient.

At a ceremony held in the Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis, members of the Maryland General Assembly were joined by Chesapeake Bay Trust partners and supporters as they honored these exceptional individuals and their contributions to environmental education, community outreach and civic engagement.

“Educating and engaging the next generation of Bay stewards is crucial to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams,” said Allen Hance, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. “This Maryland teacher and these two talented Maryland students exemplify what it means to be environmentally literate: every day, they translate scientific knowledge and environmental values into actions that are making a difference for the Bay and their local communities.”

The Trust awarded its 2011 Environmental Educator of the Year to Susie Peeling, a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Resource Teacher at Pleasant Plains Elementary, Lutherville Lab and Halstead Academy in Baltimore County.  Peeling is an educator who uses the rigorous STEM curriculum and outdoor educational experiences on school grounds and through field trips as a platform for increasing environmental literacy and improving student achievement.  Working with diverse student populations in Title I schools, Peeling’s approach is yielding measurable results.   In addition to a cash award of $2,500, Peeling also has an opportunity to apply for a $5,000 grant to be used for environment projects and programs within her schools.

The Trust’s Honorable Arthur Dorman Scholarship was awarded to Jillian Tse, a senior at Paint Branch High School in Montgomery County, for her exceptional work at Paint Branch and throughout the broader community.  The $5,000 Arthur Dorman Scholarship is presented each year to a minority student who shows an exemplary commitment to improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and who exhibits leadership in promoting diversity, inclusion, and tolerance for individuals of all backgrounds.  Tse, an honors student, is an active member of Eco-exist, the environmental club at her school and has, both as a volunteer and an employee, helped advance local environmental education and community-clean up efforts.

The recipient of the Trust’s 2011 Student of the Year Scholarship is Emily Peterson, a senior at South Carroll High in Carroll County, who is honored for her outstanding commitment to environmental stewardship, Chesapeake Bay restoration, and civic engagement at South Carroll High and throughout her local community.  Peterson, the winner of this $5,000 scholarship, is an accomplished honors student, the founder of her school’s environmental club, a national leader for the Green Schools Youth Summit and Vice President of Sustainability for Venturing Crew.

Each year the Trust makes six awards to Marylanders for a variety of environmental leadership roles and educational achievements.  In addition to the Teacher of the Year, Student of the Year and Honorable Arthur Dorman Scholarship, the Trust announces recipients of its Dr. Torrey Brown Award (for Bay leadership), the Ellen Fraites Wagner Award (for an exceptional Bay Steward) and the Melanie Teems Award (for an outstanding Trust grant project) in the spring. The Trust’s awards program was launched in 1998 with each year more and more applications being submitted to the program.

“We are thrilled to recognize these exceptional individuals not only for the work they are doing to improve Chesapeake Bay and its waterways, but also for their efforts to educate others on the importance of civic involvement and community activism,” said Tara Potter, Trust Board Chair and Assistant Vice President of Government Affairs for Verizon.  “These awardees aren’t just sitting around waiting for change to happen; they are out there doing it, making a difference and inspiring others to act.”

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking interested adults to become TEAM (Teaching Environmental Awareness in Maryland) volunteers. Our volunteers’ mission is to educate students about the Chesapeake Bay and other Maryland environmental issues. Since its inception in 1998, TEAM DNR volunteers have delivered over 1000 classroom programs to more than 30,000 students in Maryland.

Volunteers should have an outgoing personality and a strong desire to protect the Chesapeake Bay. No prior teaching experience is necessary. Currently, TEAM offers schools free classroom programs on the following topics:

* Chesapeake Bay Watershed

* Streams

* Oyster Reefs

* Horseshoe Crabs

* Chesapeake Watermen

The next workshop will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, August 14, 2009 in the C-1 Conference Room of the Tawes State Office Building, located at 580 Taylor Ave. Annapolis, MD 21401. Participants are asked to bring their own lunch. Beverages and snacks will be provided.

To register for a workshop, contact Amy Henry at 410-260-8828 or ahenry@dnr.state.md.us. For more information about this valuable program, visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/education/teamdnr.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is seeking enthusiastic adults to become TEAM (Teaching Environmental Awareness in Maryland) volunteers. TEAM DNR is a volunteer program committed to educating elementary and middle school students about the Chesapeake Bay and other Maryland environmental issues through hands-on presentations in classrooms around the state.

“TEAM volunteers directly influence the lives of our children as they learn to become stewards of our natural world,” said Amy Henry, Conservation Education Specialist at DNR. “Through interactive activities the volunteers introduce students to Maryland’s diverse natural resources and help foster connections to their environment.”

TEAM volunteers provide an important link between DNR, schools and students. Since 1998, TEAM DNR volunteers have delivered 1,000 classroom programs and inspired more than 30,000 students in Maryland. Currently, TEAM offers schools-free classroom programs on the Chesapeake Bay watershed, streams, oyster reefs, horseshoe crabs, and Chesapeake watermen.

Interested TEAM volunteers are encouraged to attend a training session on Friday, January 29 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the first floor conference room of the Tawes State Office Building (580 Taylor Ave.) in Annapolis. Participants will be trained on three of the four classroom programs. DNR will provide snacks and beverages, but participants are asked to bring their own lunch. To register for this workshop, contact Amy Henry at 410-260-8828 or ahenry@dnr.state.md.us.

While no prior teaching experience is necessary, volunteers should enjoy working with children. For more information, visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/education/teamdnr.

To help ensure that all Maryland children have an opportunity to experience and connect with nature, last spring Governor Martin O’Malley established Maryland’s Partnership for Children in Nature, a coalition of state, local, private and non-profit partners charged with promoting the well-being of youth by accelerating environmental learning, connecting communities to parks and public lands and expanding opportunities for structured and unstructured outdoor time in nature for both play and learning.

NOAA B-WET is an environmental education program that promotes locally relevant, experiential learning in the K-12 environment. Funded projects provide meaningful watershed educational experiences for students, related professional development for teachers, and support for regional education and environmental priorities in the Pacific Northwest, the northern Gulf of Mexico and New England. Eligible applicants include: K-12 public and independent schools and school systems, institutions of higher education, community-based and nonprofit organizations, state or local government agencies, interstate agencies, and Indian tribal governments. The deadline for proposals is 5pm Eastern time on January 26, 2009.