Liz Hazlett lives environmentalism, and for many years has modeled it for all of her Mitchell Woods Public School students. And while teaching by example has worked wonders for her, putting her foot down from time-to-time has also been an effective teaching tool.
Hazlett is this year’s recipient of the annual Mike Elrick Environmental Leadership Award, given out to the Upper Grand District School Board staff members who demonstrates exemplary environmental leadership.
“I think that if we can’t be a good role model, how are other people going to learn,” said Hazlett in a recent interview. “So, I try.”
Her example has been influential at Mitchell Woods, especially among the young students who look up to her.
“I try to be a role model with my kids and impart to them my environmental tendencies,” she said. “A lot of people come from different backgrounds and upbringing, and often it’s not that they don’t care, they’ve just never been shown. If you are a good role model and lead by example, then, yes, I think it does wear off on them.”
By the end of the year children in her class do automatically what they needed constant reminders to do at the beginning of the school year, she said.
“You try not to force these things down their throat, but there are certain things that I just don’t put up with in my classroom,” she added. “Like the garbage — it has to be sorted properly, and if it’s not they have to fix it. So they learn. They learn to turn the lights out when they leave a room. It’s the little things.”
She also teaches her students how to spend as much time as possible outdoors, no matter what the weather is like out there.
“They learn to love it. They want to be outside,” she added.
This year, there were 20 nominees for the award, coming from a host of schools throughout Upper Grand’s region. Previous award recipients and nominees were among those on the selection committee.
Hazlett was chosen because she embodies environmental awareness both in her teaching and lifestyle, and for being a role model to students and staff at the school, an Upper Grand press release said. She rides her bike or walks to school each day, bringing litterless lunches with her.
She said being committed to the environment is not easy, and sometimes it can be overwhelming, especially when there are so many daily examples of environmental insensitivity. One of things she finds most disheartening is seeing perfectly good food go to waste.
“I can get very discouraged,” she said. “And then you realize that every little individual thing we do does make a difference. If we all do something small, and make that our philosophy in life, then every bit helps.”
