Lauren Miller Wins Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award
Ruth Swetland Eppig
Lauren Miller, a teacher of Environmental Education at the Birchwood School of Hawken outside of Cleveland, Ohio, has received the prestigious Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award, including a stipend of $1,000. The award is given by the GCA to an individual who, “through working with children under 16 years of age in horticulture and the environment, has inspired their appreciation of the beauty and fragility of our planet.” Miss Hull, for whom the award is named, was an active member of the Ridgefield Garden Club. Her concern for the environment and commitment to common-sense horticultural practices were ahead of our national mindfulness.
Lauren has taught 1st through 4th grade students at the school for the past several years. Before this, Lauren performed population studies of grassland birds, and taught numerous environmental programs, as she worked at organizations including Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, Stratford Ecological Center, Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center, and Nature Center at Shaker Lakes. Her love of teaching young children about the environment eventually brought her to the Birchwood School.
Lauren’s passion, along with that of her co-teacher, Rana Bottino, is teaching students to think like scientists. She creates an academically rigorous curriculum while instilling in her students a dedication to making their community and world a better place. Her purpose is to let students know about the natural world, how they are affected by it, and how the world is affected by them. She wants them not only to be good stewards of our local ecosystems but to become advocates for better policy by becoming politically active in pursuit of their beliefs.
Ruth Eppig proposed Lauren for this award. Nancy Linz, Zone X Horticulture Chair and Mary Bruce Rae-Grant wrote seconding letters.