Maine Environmental Education Association Announces 2026 Annual Award Recipients
Pictured left to right: Dillon Jenkins, Thursday Sharon, Kailina Mills, Chloe Pascale, Luke Sekera-Flanders, Gregory Biddinger, Mike Lotito, Karen Lotito, D Johannesen, Heather O’Leary, and Melissa Prescott
May 15, 2026 - The Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) proudly announces the recipients of its 2026 Annual Awards, recognizing outstanding contributions to environmental education throughout Maine. Award winners were honored at a celebration on Thursday, May 7, 2026, at Pilgrim Lodge in West Gardiner, Maine.
Student of the Year: Dillon Jenkins, Junior at Scarborough High School
Joan B Saxe Grassroots Environmental Award: Luke Sekera-Flanders, Public Health Community Organizer at Needlepoint Sanctuary; Organizer at Community Water Justice
Eberhard Thiele Environmental Educator Award: D Johannesen, Telstar High School and Sara King, Rural Aspirations Project
Environmental Partner of the Year Award: Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition
2026 School of the Year Award: Ketcha Outdoors Farm & Forest Preschool
Student of the Year
Dillon Jenkins, Junior at Scarborough High School
“We are so excited to be able to bring folks from across the state together to celebrate the incredible accomplishments of our 2026 awardees. Maine is a national leader in outdoor and environmental education - we have some of the best educators, schools, youth leaders and programs in the nation leading nature-based education in communities across the state. It is truly an honor to celebrate and recognize these incredible individuals and institutions!” - Olivia Griset, MEEA’s Executive Director.
2026 Joan B. Saxe Grassroots Environmental Award
Luke Sekera-Flanders
This new award with MEEA is in collaboration with the family and friends of late environmental leader Joan B. Saxe who loved her native Maine and tirelessly devoted her entire life to protect Maine's natural areas. The award recognizes and enables a Maine Environmental Changemaker activist (30 or under) to lead grassroots environmental advocacy.
“When I read the email announcing that I had won this award, my head was spinning,” says Luke. “I was processing all of it and my mind kept drifting to a special place in Penobscot Bay — Sears Island, first known as Wahsumkik in the Penobscot language. Sears Island connected Joan Saxe and I as we stood in solidarity with the island to protect it from industrial development on more than one occasion, not just for the sake of preserving natural beauty but because we recognized its reaching significance for Penobscot Bay, the Penobscot River, and for future generations.”
Luke is a leader at Community Water Justice, an organization that advocates for clean and sovereign water in his hometown of Fryeburg, Maine area in response to water privatization by Poland Springs. Luke is also a Public Health Community Organizing with Needlepoint Sanctuary of Maine in Bangor, where he helps to reduce the harms associated with drug use, poverty, and social inequalities in his community.quality
“I accept this award, but I cannot claim it as my own because it belongs to every person who stood beside me, who taught me, who showed me the importance and who showed me how to do it, how to speak up.”
2026 Student of the Year Award
Dillon Jenkins, Junior at Scarborough High School
Dillon Jenkins is very curious and passionate student invested in science, which he incorporates into his life through climate activism work. In his school, he is the President of the Environmental Club of Scarborough, working to coordinate school recycling, their school garden, and outreach within the broader community.
He is also a part of the Scarborough Marsh Committee, helping protect the Scarborough Marsh from pollution, invasive species, and development. At the state level, he is part of the Maine Climate Council's Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, which uses quantitative analysis to understand climate change's impact. Additionally, because one of his many passions is marine biology, he is an intern for Team Zostera doing research on seagrass, an important carbon sink. He is currently working on getting his scientific dive certification to expand his involvement in seagrass research.
“My devotion to the environment doesn’t start here and it doesn’t end here. I’ve always been since the first walk with my mom outdoors or hiking Katahdin, I’ve always been devoted to the environment and I see everyone’s future impacted by it. I’m really excited to see where my path leads me.” - Dillon Jenkins
2026 Eberhard Thiele Environmental Educator Award
D Johannesen, Telstar High School
D Johannesen uses a place-based authentic approach with all her students, as well as her environmental policy class. “D has a really unique way of being able to empower and uplift kids themselves to be able to feel confident and comfortable in working with adults in new ways maybe that they're not used to,” says Sara King, who works with Johannesen as part of the Maine Forest Collaborative.
When D invited Roberta Hill from the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy into the classroom, D supported her in pitching an inland flooding project to students who were eager and excited to help. This turned into an inland flooding community science project for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Telstar environmental policy students helped to build the protocol for this project by modifying the coastal flooding protocol for inland research. Every step of the way, D supported and guided her students, and doing so in a way that allowed their own interests to take on new unanticipated project extensions, including sign development and flood readiness checklists that kids created.
“I’m really excited to be able to bring kids into my own passion [for climate education]. When they react back at me, we are doing something real. It’s not another worksheet or some other time filler. This is stuff that really matters and will impact them in the future. And I want them to feel as passionate as I do. I work at a very small rural school so we don’t have tons of resources but community support is really the biggest support I need.”
2026 Eberhard Thiele Environmental Educator Award
Sara King, Maine Forest Collaborative Program Coordinator at Rural Aspirations Project
Sara King graduated from Salve Regina University with a B.S. in Elementary and Special Education in 2013. Throughout college she spent summers working as a trip leader for Nature's Classroom guiding teens on kayaking and camping expeditions. She went on to teach second grade at a small rural school creating and developing her own curriculum, scope, and sequence for her students in all subject areas. During that time she received her Maine Recreational and Sea Kayak Guide License and in the summers, began guiding sea kayaking, paddleboard, and canoe trips for LL Bean.
After teaching for three years, she took some time off to travel to Nepal, receive her Registered Yoga Instructor Certification, trek in the Himalayas, and WWOOF at a farm. Upon returning, she received training as a Children's Yoga Instructor and then went on to work for UMaine Cooperative Extension as a 4-H Youth Development Professional helping youth to connect to their sparks in a hands-on meaningful way, facilitate learning of life skills, and connect them to the larger community. Sara's love of the outdoors and passion for connecting youth to natural resources sparked her to return to graduate school at UMaine Farmington. She graduated in the spring of 2023 with a M.Ed in Educational Leadership with a Nature-Based Education concentration. Sara has been working for Rural Aspirations Project as the Maine Forest Collaborative Program Coordinator since fall of 2022 statewide to connect high school and middle school youth to their place through authentic project-based learning.
2026 Environmental Partner of the Year Award
Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition
Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition (BBWC) has been involved in Environmental Education programs since it was founded in 2004. BBWC offers a wide range of Natural Literacy programs covering elementary and middle schools and adult environmental education.
In 6 local schools, we offer a "Making Friends with Nature" program where our environmental educator Jennie Judkins provides over 5000 student contact hours per year and a "Fish Fiends" program in ten schools, where students get to raise Salmon from eggs to fingerlings and release them into a free run stream connected to Belfast Bay. For grades 6 and 7 we have an after-school program called the "Merlin Club" and a week-long in-depth summer program on Hurricane Island For adults and families we offer numerous outdoor walks and talks and evening educational programs. The premier adult program is a 7-week training program called the "Penobscot Bay Stewards" (PBS) program. The PBS training is free, but the expectation is that participants will become volunteers on environmental and conservation initiatives in their communities working with BBWC or other non-profits. Finally, BBWC includes students in our community outreach and research activities. We have a high school student on our Board of Directors. The Belfast Area High School science club helps analyze and graph our water quality data and we even have a couple of students that are avid birders that co-lead our bird watching walks. If you would like more information on these programs you can contact Greg Biddinger (gbiddi@gmail.com).
2026 Excellence in Environmental Education Program
Three Sisters Garden Project with Melissa Prescott and Heather O'Leary
Melissa Prescott and Heather O’Leary co-faciliate the MSAD #44 Wabanaki Studies Professional Learning Community (PLC), a group of educators working together to deepen their understanding of Wabanaki Studies and integrate that learning across the curriculum.
Educators partnered with Mahoosuc Land Trust to support the Abenaki Foodways Project, an initiative started by South Hero Land Trust in collaboration with experts from the Odanak and W8linak Abenaki Nations. The project engages students in Wabanaki foodways, gardening, and culture, including Three Sisters planting and cooking traditions.
“I couldn’t understand why LD 291—a law passed in 2001 requiring Maine’s schools to teach Native American history and culture—was never covered in my teacher training,” said O’Leary. “Our work now supports educators across the district in weaving Wabanaki perspectives into lessons at all grade levels. Right from day one, I’ve told my students: “History isn’t always pretty—it must be learned to ensure it isn’t repeated.”
Last spring, using heirloom seeds from the project and guidance from Abenaki Foodways Project advisors, the PLC team established a Three Sisters garden within the Habitat for All Garden at Mahoosuc Land Trust’s Valentine Farm. This garden is now a site for place-based Wabanaki Studies learning, where students can participate in planting, harvesting, seed saving, photography, and interdisciplinary connections across science, math, history, and art. In November, the PLC also organized a two-day Culinary Arts workshop for middle and high school students, led by Jasmine Thompson-Tintor (Panawahpskek/Penobscot) and Jacques Watso (Abenaki) of Odanak. Students engaged with Wabanaki foodways through cooking, storytelling, and cultural exchange. As this garden partnership begins a second season, the PLC team hopes to sustain it annually, supporting ongoing collaboration across grade levels and subjects, and continued relationship-building with Wabanaki educators and community partners.
2026 School of the Year Award
Ketcha Outdoors Farm & Forest Preschool
Ketcha's Farm & Forest Preschool practices place-based teaching, rooted in the Reggio Emilia approach, throughout their 107 acres of forest, fields, farm, and waterways.
The students are active outdoors year-round and in all types of weather. “We know that learning happens best through play, so we offer many opportunities for both structured and unstructured play throughout the day, allowing our students to immerse themselves in the diverse natural settings on our property.
