Patti Lawrimore, a teacher at Riverwood International Charter School in Fulton County, has been recognized as an EarthKind Harmony Hero for her efforts in educating over 400 students about sustainability and the environment through her local experiential eco-education programs.

The Harmony Hero Award Program is part of EarthKind's 2021 Year of the Monarch national initiative. Through a rigorous nomination and selection process, the pest prevention brand is recognizing one K-12 teacher across the country each month who is committed to implementing eco-education initiatives into their curriculum, with the focus on getting kids outdoors and connected to nature. Each recognized teacher will receive complimentary in-service training from an entomologist on IPM practices for their school, helping them become safer, healthier places. They’ll also receive sustainable product essentials for eco-education and outdoor adventures, and will be considered for the grand prize of sending one teacher and three guests on an all-expense paid trip to Mexico in March 2022 to visit the Kingdom of Monarchs habitat, where they will witness the amazing migration of millions of butterflies.

Riverwood International Charter School teacher Patti Lawrimore pictured with one of the school's beehives.

Riverwood International Charter School teacher Patti Lawrimore pictured with one of the school's beehives.

 For over 25 years, Lawrimore’s commendable efforts have been dedicated to providing hands-on experience for students to teach them about conservation and the preservation of resources. Over the past five years, she has turned overgrown and underutilized spaces at Riverwood into outdoor nature education centers and gardens that focus on monarch and pollinator protection. She encourages her students to further study and develop a land ethic, and has inspired many to study environmental science, look at alternative farming, and delve into how we can improve water and soil quality.

"Students are exposed to multiple ways urban campus can reduce their ecological footprint, garden, small native planting, pollinator census, hydroponics and air, water and soil quality studies," says Lawrimore.  "The wide variety of demonstrations we have on campus shows students what can be done, in hopes that they will ‘scale up’ these ideas to promote a more sustainable lifestyle. Students are exposed in hopes of becoming more aware citizens and business leaders."

Click here to learn more about the Earthkind Harmony Hero award.