Hobart named as the county’s Outstanding Conservation Teacher of the Year
GUILFORD — Each year the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) recognizes one teacher in Piscataquis County as the Outstanding Conservation Teacher of the Year, for his or her dedication to fostering students’ learning and understanding of natural resource ecology, conservation biology and related curriculum that is aligned to the State of Maine Learning Results standards. The conservation district is pleased to announce that Diana Hobart, a sixth-grade teacher at Piscataquis Community Elementary School has been chosen as the 2013 Outstanding Conservation Teacher of the Year.
Photo courtesy of PCSWCD
OUTSTANDING TEACHER — Diana Hobart, a grade 6 teacher at Piscataquis Community Elementary School, was presented with the 2013 Piscataquis County Outstanding Conservation Teacher of the Year Award at a ceremony at the school in Guilford. Hobart received this award for her dedication to teaching students about natural resource ecology, both in the classroom and through field trips to the PCSWCD Demonstration Forest. From left is PCES Principal Julie Orton, Hobart, PCSWCD Board Chair Gordon Moore and PCSWCD Executive Director Joanna Tarrazi.
Hobart is extremely committed to her students’ hands-ons exploration of natural resource ecology and how this deepens her students’ learning. PCSWCD Board Chair Gordon Moore noted, “Diana is actively involved in conservation education, which includes her leading field trips out to the Demonstration Forest for several years with her sixth-grade students.”
At the forest, the sixth-graders are introduced to native tree species in Maine that are being sustainably managed, the types of soils that are best for forests and agriculture, wildlife focal species and their habitats that contribute to our region’s biodiversity and related ecology topics that are tied to the curriculum the sixth graders are learning about in the classroom. Hobart works directly with the PCSWCD to make all arrangements for these annual field trips. During these field trips, Diana and her fellow sixth-grade teacher, Rochelle Titcomb, lead a leaf and tree identification station, which is one of five learning stations set up throughout the forest, for the students to discover and learn from natural resource professionals.
Hobart’s commitment to teaching the students about natural resource ecology continues well beyond the classroom. She is a fifth generation maple syrup producer, and with her husband Steve, owns and operates Breakneck Ridge Farm in Blanchard. The farm is open for educational tours on Maine Maple Sunday, where Hobart enjoys teaching people of all ages about the maple sap that is sustainably harvested from trees and how this is processed into maple syrup and other delicious and nutritious products made from maple. They also raise buffalo on the farm.
Each summer the Hobarts invite the PCSWCD summer campers to visit their farm and learn about the wise use of the land, the water and all of our natural resources, so children can learn to be careful and conscientious. As Hobart says, “Whatever you can do to take care of the land, the land will take care of you!” Hobart teaches her students about the science of nature, but also helps her students gain a clear understanding and love for our natural world and the bounty that springs forth from it.