\n\tIn case you were in any doubt about the quality of Lake Champlain Sea Grant\u2019s Watershed Alliance K-12 education program, the program coordinator, Ashley Eaton, was just recognized by the Association of Northeast Extension Directors\u2019 (NEED) with the Exceptional Local Educator Award. This annual award celebrates one Extension educator or agent who provides leadership for the delivery of an exceptional place-based program.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe are proud of Ashley\u2019s leadership of the Watershed Alliance program, including development of unique watershed education programs not only for youth, but for teachers and undergraduate interns as well,\u201d said Kris Stepenuck, LCSG Associate Director and Extension Lead. \u201cThe program is a model watershed education initiative across Land and Sea Grant programs nationally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tWatershed Alliance has provided watershed science education since 2002. Since joining the program in 2015 and becoming its coordinator in 2017, Ashley Eaton has strengthened, expanded, and formalized its core youth programs, developed new curricular resources, and led a team of staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students in conducting place-based watershed education. Her attention to collecting learning outcomes through pre- and post- lesson questionnaires helped illustrate the impact of place-based education on K-12 students. Eaton recently received her EdD and published a journal article<\/a> highlighting the watershed education model Watershed Alliance uses.<\/p>\n \n\tEaton played a pivotal role in designing the University of Vermont\u2019s new research vessel with K-12 education in mind, creating a fully accessible floating classroom. She integrated modern sampling tools, microscopes with projection capabilities, and interactive plankton lessons to give students a unique on-lake experience. By connecting hands-on science with real-world environmental challenges, she has deepened students\u2019 understanding of lake ecosystems and inspired a new generation of watershed stewards.<\/p>\n \n\tIn addition to working with thousands of students across the Lake Champlain basin, Eaton has strengthened teacher capacity across the region by developing partnerships and professional development opportunities that connect educators with cutting-edge research. Through programs like the Watershed Alliance Teacher and Researcher (WATR) partnership and Watershed for Every Classroom (WEC), she enables teachers to learn directly from scientists and apply this knowledge in their classrooms, building a strong foundation for ongoing student engagement in watershed science and environmental stewardship.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI am honored to receive the Exceptional Local Educator Award and deeply grateful to the phenomenal education team I\u2019ve had the privilege to work alongside for the past decade\u2014this work would not be possible without them,\u201d shared Eaton. \u201cI also extend my sincere appreciation to the incredible K\u201312 teachers, students, and partners who make the Watershed Alliance program successful. This recognition reflects our shared commitment to hands-on, place-based learning and to inspiring the next generation of watershed stewards.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis award recognizes the growth and success of Watershed Alliance over the past ten years and the hard work the team has put in to advance the program. In addition to the $1,000 prize in professional development, Eaton will be honored at the next regional meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In case you were in any doubt about the quality…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3089"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}