Margaret Paul pointed to a patch of ground behind Towson High School and explained that the plants that grow there -- black-eyed Susans and five types of grasses -- are native to the region. She led visitors to a spot that was once clay but that, after a lot of hard work by her students, has been turned into soil suitable for a garden with 150 plants.
She gestured toward a field near Herring Run. Students and the school's neighbors have planted more than 80 trees there.
Paul, an environmental science and biology instructor at the school, has been teaching her students to seek the grants that pay for projects, which the students design. In doing so, she has effectively turned the school and its grounds into a science laboratory.
She was honored yesterday as one of the Chesapeake Bay Trust's teachers of the year. She accepted the award on behalf of her students.
"From working the soil to writing the grant to choosing the design, I just kind of stood by and watched," she said. "The kids did it all."
Still, County Executive James T. Smith Jr., handing her a plaque to certify the honor, offered a different view.
"It is the students, you're right. But they have to have you to guide them in doing what they do," he said.
After Paul offered her thanks, the Chesapeake Bay Trust recognized another environmentalist for years of work.
Charlie Conklin, a retired Bethlehem Steel engineer who is chairman of the board of directors of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, received an award bestowed each year on volunteers who dedicate themselves to saving the bay. He told students in the Towson High School library that they motivate him.
"When we're gone, we want you to appreciate what we could appreciate," he told the students. He encouraged them to continue working for and with the environment.
But that idea is nothing new at Towson High. Over the past few years, the school's landscape has changed drastically. Initially, there was a greenhouse. Now a butterfly garden, a stand of 4-foot-tall trees, and other landscape projects adorn the property.
Paul says she attempts to go beyond classroom lectures while teaching environmental science. She introduces a lesson and assigns classroom labs and outdoor projects to capture students' interest. Once the basic lesson is introduced, Paul has been known to take her classes on field trips to the Chesapeake Bay.
"You can read about the Chesapeake Bay in a book. However, it's not until you're out on the water, doing some water activities, do you get the point, do you really see. What is said in the book comes to life in front of you," Paul said.
Chesapeake Bay Trust Executive Director David O'Neill said yesterday that Paul was selected for the award because of her classroom lessons -- and her belief that students "need to get outside to see and feel the environment to be stewards of it."
