Fleming Receives National Award From EPA

 Gulf Shores High School teacher Krista Fleming has received a national award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for her immersive environmental science curriculum, particularly for her focus on oyster restoration, AL.com reported. Fleming, an environmental science teacher, received the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators. She is one of nine winners throughout the country and the only winner from EPA Region 4, which covers much of the Southeast. As part of her “Oyster Gardening Unit,” Fleming partners with the Little Lagoon Preservation Society, a local environmental watchdog group, and oyster researchers from Auburn University’s Cooperative Extension System. Students raise oysters for restoration and make weekly trips to Little Lagoon. In doing so, they learn about oysters, maintaining oyster beds and coastal restoration. Since 2019, Fleming’s students have raised nearly 35,000 oysters with an estimated restoration value of $38,000. Enrollment in the school’s advanced placement environmental science class has doubled, test scores have improved, chronic absenteeism has decreased and students have won more awards in state competitions because of Fleming’s curriculum, EPA said.