Tara Nye

Sustainable Sandhills is an innovative non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and protecting the environment and natural resources of the eight-county region surrounding Fort Bragg in south central North Carolina. It serves as a clearing house for information, an advocate for healthy change and a catalyst for activity and community engagement on environmental issues. Kenan Master Teacher Ms. Nye has been awarded a five-year fellowship to collaborate with Sustainable Sandhills experts to develop projects that teach students to analyze school facility energy, water and solid waste audit data. New lessons will guide students in studying how the implementation of changes such as new LED lighting technology, biodegradable packing and school energy audits can drive energy, water and waste reductions at these facilities. Students will be introduced to the benefits of “green” facilities, methods used to track these benefits, energy audit strategies and statistical analysis of data. The latter part of her fellowship will be spent collaborating with Kenan Fellows Program staff and university faculty to implement a strategy for disseminating the resources she develops to pre-service teacher education programs in the region.