New Canaan: Laura Poidomani, a 6th grade teacher at Saxe Middle School, is one of 12 education professionals from across the country honored this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators (PIAEE).
Teachers from each of the EPA’s 10 national regions were considered to receive this award.
Laura Poidomani was the only teacher chosen from the EPA’s Region 1, which serves Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Saxe Middle School is part of the New Canaan K-12 Public School District.
The PIAEE recognizes outstanding K-12 grade teachers who employ innovative approaches to environmental education and use the environment as a context for learning for their students.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality, in partnership with the EPA administers this award to honor, support and encourage educators who incorporate environmental education in their classrooms and teaching methods. The award ceremony, which also honored 75 students, took place in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28.
“The educators being honored provide the foundation from which the next generation of environmental leaders will grow,” said Ben Friedman, acting Administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Through their work, these impressive educators and students demonstrate how community partnerships – between schools, business and government – can build and sustain environmental change,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Laura Poidomani, a Newtown resident, is beginning her 19th year teaching 6th graders at Saxe Middle School.
Her current classroom initiatives include a trout tank carefully monitored and maintained by the student “Trout Club.”
Around her classroom are model septic systems that students are creating by use of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to better understand how septic systems work and their role in the ecosystem.
With her Student Watershed Awareness Taskforce (SWAT), students research the contributions of their families and their communities to a local body of water – collecting data, determining where water from their homes and community flows, and identifying designs for improving water quality.
Poidomani delivered a presentation on SWAT to a conference on “Authentic Assessments in Action” attended by teachers and administrators from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.
New Canaan: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has honored a sixth grade teacher at Saxe Middle School teacher in Laura Poidomani. Laura Poidomani
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