District principal, teachers honored for conservation efforts

 COLUMBIA, SC – A Richland Two principal and a teacher are the newest recipients of Conservation Education Awards from the Richland Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD). Catawba Trail Elementary School Principal Denise Barth was named 2015-2016 Richland County Conservation Principal of the Year. Kristin Ziegler, Lead Teacher of the School of Zoological and Botanical Studies at Longleaf Middle School, has been named 2015-2016 Richland County Conservation Teacher of the Year.

Barth was nominated for this award by her school faculty because of her dedicated support for environmental education and stewardship in the Catawba Trail school community.  It is the second time Barth has received this award. For several years, Catawba Trail Elementary School has been a leader in environmental education initiatives.  The campus boasts several large and growing school gardens, a nature trail, an outdoor classroom, wildlife habitats, compost bins and tumblers, a duck-and-fish pond, and an upcycled bottle greenhouse.  Indoors, classrooms and the school cafeteria are fully engaged in reducing, reusing, recycling, and hands-on learning about environmental stewardship.  Students raise trout in the classroom to release at Saluda Shoals Park; take field trips to Congaree National Park, Camp Leopold and Lake Murray; and participate in conservation-themed contests and education exchange programs with other schools and local organizations.

Ziegler, who received no fewer than four nominations for the award, is the lead teacher, of ZooBot, an environmental magnet program that promotes the conservation of living things and the environment.  She organizes monthly field experiences for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to explore parks, natural areas and environmental learning centers across the region.  Ziegler has chaired Longleaf Middle School’s Green Steps School Team since 2011 and implemented or maintained a number of school projects, including school composting, school gardens, rainwater harvesting, recycling, upcycling, Breathe Better air quality campaigns and a nature trail, which led to Longleaf Middle School receiving the Certified SC Green Step School designation in 2013.  Through these efforts, ZooBot students have, in their own words, “learned to take care of the environment and the animals that live there.”

Additionally, two Richland Two teachers received Honorable Mention awards. Dr. Rachel Tustin, a seventh grade science teacher at Dent Middle School, has guided the development of a sophisticated, student-led environmental monitoring program in the Gills Creek Watershed. Susan Woodley, a preschool teacher at Lake Carolina Elementary Lower Campus coordinates a variety of student environmental clubs and special projects to educate students and faculty about the environment.  She also led her school to a sixth place state finish in the 2015 Keep America Beautiful Recycle Bowl. The teachers and principal will be recognized at the Richland SWCD’s Awards Banquet later this month.

Pontiac Elementary School third grade teacher Karyn Taylor was named the SWCD 2014-2015 Conservation Teacher of the Year.