The Seattle Foundation and environmental education nonprofit, IslandWood, has named Elizabeth Reamer-Carlisle Wing MA ’16 as a recipient of the 2018 Patsy Collins Award for Excellence in Education, Environment, and Community. Wing joins two other teachers as recipients of the award, which recognizes educators for innovative approaches that connect learning with students’ lives and communities and foster environmental awareness and stewardship behaviors. Established in memory of Patsy Collins, a philanthropist and civic leader, recipients of the Patsy Collins Award earn a $10,000 cash prize.

“A thriving educational environment is one that fosters relationships beyond the classroom walls and empowers students as members of their communities,” said Wing in IslandWood’s award November 2018 announcement.

Wing earned a Master of Arts (MA) in the biological sciences from Miami University through Project Dragonfly’s Global Field Program while working working full-time as a teacher at Carnation Elementary School in Carnation, Washington. In addition to being an MA graduate, Wing has designed lessons on sustainability and the environment for Oxbow Farm, a local organic farm and education center, and has connected her school district’s food service director to local organic farmers to supply produce for lunches. The school is now a USDA Bronze Level Farm to School Site.

Wing’s international fieldwork with Project Dragonfly included investigating coral reefs, manatees, howler monkeys, jaguars, and other wildlife in Belize while learning the methods communities are using to sustain them; studying nature through Buddhist philosophy in Thailand; and supporting ongoing research projects and school-community programs in Namibia. Wing connected many of her master’s assignments into her work as an educator.

Wing on her Earth Expeditions: Thailand course.	Wing on her Earth Expeditions: Namibia course.