Hull Award Recipients
Page Skinner Thomas
2024
Page Skinner Thomas (Late Bloomer’s GC Zone VIII) is a pharmacologist teaching at the North Florida School of Special Education where she enriches the lives of students with intellectual and developmental differences through innovative garden initiatives. Her classes are filled with incredible lessons, not only about our wonderful earth but also about how students can change the way they think about plants and food. Her commitment to fostering inclusivity and promoting meaningful connections among students from diverse backgrounds has been the cornerstone of her work.
Stan Wood
2024
Stan Wood (The Palmetto GC of South Carolina Zone VIII) is a teacher and coach who founded the PEAK (Pursuit of Environmental Adventure and Knowledge) Program at Heathwood Hall in Columbia, South Carolina. PEAK presents students with hands-on opportunities in wilderness exploration, environmental education, and leadership development. From exploring their own 100-acre campus to scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro, Stan has taught generations of children to see the natural world as he does - something beautiful and something fragile and something worth protecting.
Sarah Breznen
2023
For over 14 years, Sarah Breznen, Director of Education at Woodcock Nature Center, has combined science and visual arts to develop and teach innovative nature-based programs, including courses that meet rigorous state standards and are integral to science curricula, that impact over 1500 students annually across four Connecticut school districts. Her passion for nature and love of teaching imbues her students with deep appreciation for the environment and foster a lasting connection with the natural world.
Debra Davis-Galliard
2023
Debra Davis-Galliard had a successful career in the I/T industry. After thirty years, she returned to school for a higher-education degree to teach chemistry, earth, and general science to fifth through twelfth graders. She supported her middle-school students’ effort to test re-populating oysters in Rye Harbor. When a storm destroyed their research station, Debra led her students in starting over from scratch. Debra instills in her students a responsibility to be gatekeepers for their environment.
Charles “CJ” Reilly
2023
CJ serves as the educational director, horticulturalist and project manager for the O’Hara Nature Center and Irvington Woods Park. In these roles he designs curricula supporting camp and school visits, Eagle Scout and Girl Scout projects and the Irvington Vocational Independence Program that offers middle and upper school vocational students hands-on, independent learning in landscape management and horticulture. CJ also created Xeriscape, Rain, Bog and Meadow Demonstration Gardens to encourage the use of native plants.
Melissa Logan
2023
Melissa Logan teaches environmental science to mainly Latino and African American students in an elementary school located in the lowest income area of Plainfield, New Jersey. Ms. Logan, a bi-lingual teacher for two decades, introduces students to nature through both classroom curriculum and field trips to Plainfield’s Olmsted-planned Shakespeare Garden. Ms. Logan secured funding from Plainfield Garden Club for her students to attend Reeves-Reed Arboretum’s Hands-to-Nature program which teaches about our ecosystem and the crucial importance of nature.
David Kasievich
2023
As the head of St. James School, David engages his fourth through eighth grade students in hands-on environmental education. From starting pollinator and vegetable gardens to keeping bees and raising chickens, David maintains two composting sites. In creating the St. James Garden Club, his young gardeners assist in sowing seeds, planting and harvesting food and providing a seasonal welcome table for school families and their neighborhood. This transformational program teaches his students to value themselves and the natural world.
Charles Filer
2023
Charlie is raising a generation of environmental stewards in Southwest Virginia, where he teaches Ecology and Earth Science at Glenvar High School. His "G-Bee" Program has created an environment where faculty and students work together to fabricate, install and maintain hives on campus. They also plant and maintain fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables in support of the pollinators. The honey and related products are sold locally with the proceeds used to fund college scholarships.
David Wicks
2023
The environmental stewardship of David Wicks has impacted countless students. He served as Director and Founder of the JCPS (Jefferson County Public Schools) Environmental Education Program for 29 years. Wicks developed many programs that made investigating nature accessible to thousands of children, including school gardens and camping adventure trips on land and water.
Erin Mitchell
2023
Dr. Mitchell is committed to protecting our waterways and environment for today’s students and future generations. As Science Chair, she works with Pre-K through 9th graders on programs including Lagoon Restorations, Native Orchid plantings, Shark Education, and Teaching Empathy through Nature to help children reconnect with the outdoors. Erin works every day to ensure that her students are growing up to be responsible environmental citizens, and her work serves to inspires other educators to do the same.