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Date: 11/17/2020
WESTHAMPTON – During the Hampshire Regional School Committee’s Nov. 9 meeting, Tara O’Brien, an earth and environmental science teacher at Hampshire Regional High School, received the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher award for her section of the National Association of GeoScience Teachers.
O’Brien has been teaching science for more than two decades. She was nominated for this award last spring by Tarin Weiss, a previous member of the school committee. Weiss said she has always been extremely supportive of O’Brien, as she even taught her two daughters.
To start off the meeting, Weiss directed the attention to O’Brien by sharing her background and achievements. “She is an accomplished PhD scientist, educator and employs her knowledge of science toward creative, effective, meaningful and relevant learning activities,” she said, adding O’Brien’s main focus is her students. “Tara employs a student-centered and project-based pedagogy in order to promote experiential learning opportunities that are personal and relevant to her students of all learning abilities.”
In addition to this, O’Brien has gone above and beyond to help not only the students, but also the community and the planet, according to Weiss. She has made use of the school’s surrounding acres of forest land and streams to execute phenomenological study. Some of her ideas include growing lettuce for the school cafeteria, recycling and composting this food, and replacing plastic with flatware.
O’Brien’s efforts have been recognized across the state. In 2012, she received Massachusetts’ Energy and Environmental Affairs Office and the Department of Environmental Protection Excellence in Energy and Environmental Education Award.
“Closer to home, Tara’s a part of a collaboration of Western Mass. Audubon Society, to facilitate curriculum that teaches about our ecological footprint and how to conduct forest resilience assessments,” Weiss said. O’Brien also received the Community Grants Foundation funding, alongside her middle school colleagues, that will be used in “atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change using drones to monitor air quality,” she added.
In the future, O’Brien said she is very hopeful that Hampshire Regional High School will be able to acquire a greenhouse. This could be used for many purposes, specifically the growth of food that can be used in the cafeteria. O’Brien said, “I would need to get some funding, but the school has shown support.”
For the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher award in particular, O’Brien received a plaque, along with a two-year membership to the National Association of GeoScience Teachers.
O’Brien said, “I’m grateful to Tarin Weiss in particular and the administration for allowing me to teach. They’ve been very supportive and I’m very lucky to be recognized for something that I love to do.”
Many others chimed in during the meeting to say the award was well deserved.