2022 NHEE Teacher of the Year Tara Happy receives prestigious 2024 EPA Presidential Award in DC for her work
Tara Happy of Hollis Primary school received the EPA's 2024 Presidential Award for the Northeast region citing her work in teaching her students how to reduce their environmental impact and connect with nature. Tara is the first EE teacher to receive the award from NH since the program's inception in 2011.
Mrs Happy teaching style lends itself to tailoring each lesson based on the interest of her students to encourage curiosity and spontaneity while outdoors. During the school week, her students enjoy their learning experience and also develop a deep respect for the species and their surrounding ecosystem. Additionally, because Mrs. Happy’s school is in a rural community—where many students have a connection to farming—she teaches students about the plant life cycle with gardening activities. At her school, Mrs. Happy also utilizes the outdoors for students with intensive needs—such as nonverbal communication, mobility challenges, and medical needs—and her activities are inclusive and engaging for everyone.
In addition to all her great EE lesson plans, Mrs Happy used a grant from WWF to start a food waste diversion and composting program in 2022 that led to diverting over 10,600 lbs of food waste from the cafeteria. That program has since been expanded to include food recovery where Mrs. Happy and the students captured 5610 uneaten food items ( i.e. bananas, yogurt, granola bags, cheese sticks) that were shared with students, afterschool programs, local food pantries, and the End 68 Hours of Hunger program. Learn more about Tara's work as she visited WWF's HQ in DC to sit down for an interview while accepting her award.
If you or one of your students has an interest in reducing food waste in your school and wants to encourage food recovery, you can go to the site UpliftNH.org to learn more about Tara's work and other NH schools that have received a grant from UpliftNH. UpliftNH is being organized by 25 year NH resident and EE supporter Paul Karpawich. Paul has obtained funding from WWF (World Wide Nature Fund) and the USDA to bring these projects to NH schools that range from Hollis to the North Country in K-12 that teach the students about circularity, ways to reduce their environmental impact as well as gain lifelong organizational, leadership and public speaking skills.
This article was written by Paul Karpawich.