Lee Middle School West teacher Brian Soash wins EPA award

LEESBURG — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that Lee County Middle School West teacher Brian Soash is the winner of the Southeast region Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators.

The EPA honored Soash along with other educators and regional winners of the President’s Environmental Youth Award at a series of events in Washington, D.C. From across the country, 12 educators and 81 students were recognized for their exceptional contributions to environmental education and stewardship.

Events featured speakers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Toyota’s North American Environmental Sustainability Programs and the North American Association for Environmental Educators.

“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. “Together, EPA and our partners are working to improve environmental literacy across the nation.”

The PIAEE awards recognize innovative educators who bring environmental education into their classrooms through hands-on, experiential approaches. Winning teachers led unique projects such as Student Watershed Awareness Taskforce, a school farmers’ market and food-sharing program, interactive blogs for students to connect with scientists and other professionals, campuswide recycling programs, and outdoor learning areas.

Students in Soash’s science class at LCMSW are encouraged to learn by doing. The 2016 Georgia Middle School STEM Teacher of the Year has motivated them to create zoo exhibits, run mock species survival plan meetings, hold a schoolwide campaign and election for the most important organelle, design apps for the Georgia State Health Department, and take science courses of their own choosing.

Soash has implemented project-based learning by examining real-world issues. Students have learned about genetics and conservation through a real-world study of red wolves thanks to a partnership he developed with the Chehaw park zoo. Sixth-grade students participate in a “Flintration” project to learn how to evaluate the health of the Flint River and its inhabitants and how the water is impacted by point and nonpoint source pollution.

Soash has presented his project-based learning curriculum at National Science Teachers Association conferences, a National Council of English Teacher national conference, Bowling Green University STEM Symposium, North Carolina Science Teachers Association, Georgia Science Teachers Association, among many others.

The PEYA awards recognize outstanding environmental stewardship projects by K-12 youths. The 15 winning student projects, announced in June, featured activities such as developing low-cost biodegradable plastic using pumpkins; designing an efficient, environmentally-friendly mosquito trap; and collecting and repurposing more than 25,000 books in six months.