Media report on UMaine alum’s Milken Educator Award
The Bangor Daily News, WABI-TV (Channel 5 in Bangor), News Center Maine and Maine Department of Education shared the news that University of Maine College of Education and Human Development alumna Sarah Collins (’08, ’14G) received a 2022 Milken Educator Award. Collins, a fourth-grade science teacher at Patricia A. Duran School in Hermon, will get a $25,000 unrestricted cash prize from the Milken Family Foundation, which hands out the awards — sometimes called the Oscars of Teaching — to educators who inspire and uplift, and make a profound difference for students, colleagues and communities. Collins secured a Maine Environmental Education Association grant to develop an outdoor classroom and garden “lab” where children learn about soil quality and plant growth. She arranges virtual meetings for her students with scientists in a multitude of locations and occupations, including a wildlife ecologist studying coyote behavior in South Carolina, a Hawaiian volcanologist and a scientist performing experiments in Antarctica. Collins also works with the University of Maine’s Research in STEM Education (RiSE) Center to bring research-based, hands-on learning experiences back to Duran. The Milken Family Foundation posted a video on their Facebook of her receiving the award.