Published: 7/15/2022 10:40:02 AM
Modified: 7/15/2022 10:39:48 AM
Susie Spikol, teacher-naturalist for the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock, is one of this year's winners of the The Garden Club of America's Elizabeth Abernathy Hull Award.
The award recognizes outstanding achievement in environmental education, honoring those who "inspire children...to appreciate the beauty and fragility of our planet." In announcing the award, the club cited Spikol's "incalculable impact on the children of the Monadnock Region" and noted that "there are few children or teens [in this area] who have never canoed, hiked, explored wetlands, spotted birds, uncovered amphibians or [gone mammal] tracking with Susie."
Spikol has been a professional naturalist and environmental educator for more than 30 years. Starting with her internship in Central Park as a Columbia University student, Spikol, a Brooklyn native, has dedicated herself to teaching children to connect, understand and embrace nature.
Most recently, Spikol founded the Lab Girls afterschool program to connect girls with STEAM through nature. Each week, the girls meet a different female role model who works in STEAM and have a chance to experiment with the tools of her trade. ConVal High School students with an interest in science help the middle school girls navigate the hands-on experiments.
Spikol’s first book, “The Animal Adventurer’s Guide,” is coming out in the fall, and she is at work on a second book about insects.