A Haywood County teacher, Janet Frazier, was honored this week as the 2013 North Carolina Elementary Conservation Education Teacher of the Year. She received the award during the NC Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts’ annual meeting, held at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. Frazier and her husband Steve were guests at the Association’s Education Dinner where she was awarded a plaque and a cash prize by Pamela Stroupe, chairperson of the Association’s Education Committee. The intent of the award is to recognize those teachers doing a great job of teaching conservation.
Frazier was first named Conservation Teacher of the Year last February by the Haywood Soil and Water Conservation District. At the time she was an AIG (Academically and Intellectually Gifted) teacher at Canton and Bethel Middle Schools. When she was new to Haywood County and learned about the essay, PowerPoint and public speaking contests offered for middle school students by the District, Frazier whole-heartedly embraced them as exciting learning opportunities for her students. Around the same time, she realized how Envirothon, an outdoor environmental competition offered by the District, would enhance what her students were learning. In her second year, she wrote, “I have become enthralled with the vast amount of knowledge that can be gained, and have come to love the idea so much that I am now a team sponsor at two schools.” Frazier ended up with five teams, accompanying those that qualified for the NC Envirothon to Burlington to compete against 48 other teams from across the state. Come spring, she encouraged her Envirothon team members to attend the District’s YES (Youth Environmental Stewardship) Camp in June so they could continue to learn about the environment together and have fun, which they had enjoyed in her classes throughout the school year.
Janet Frazier is a soft spoken person, not the sort that attempts to draw attention to herself, but she makes a big difference in student performance by being such a caring individual, learning about opportunities available for students and encouraging them to get involved in their communities. “Tireless” is one word that has been used to describe Frazier when it comes to making sure students have the support to do their best. Jan Nesbitt, who was the AIG Coordinator for Haywood County Schools last year when Frazier received the first award, remarked, “My wish for children is that they all have a Janet Frazier in their lives during their crucial formative years.”
This year Janet Frazier is in a different setting as the media specialist at CentralElementary School in Waynesville. In times past, before libraries became media centers, a librarian may have been pictured shushing students who talked too loudly, but that image hardly fits Frazier. She will more likely be found, among other things, helping students create posters entitled “The Living Soil” for Haywood SWCD’s current poster contest.
By Gail Heathman, Education Coordinator
Haywood Soil and Water Conservation District – January 9, 2014
