Editor's Note: The following is a press release.

On March 7, Councilor John Connolly welcomed Boston Public School teachers and Boston Youth Environmental Network awardees to West Roxbury for an awards dinner at West on Centre.  West on Centre owner Joe Greene spoke about their environmental initiatives at the restaurant, and teachers and partner organizations shared their award-winning initiatives.  Councilor Connolly, the Chair of the Council Committee on Education and Vice Chair of the Committee on Environment and Health, presented each awardee with a Boston City Council resolution recognizing their achievement.  

The awardees are: 

Green Teacher Award - Lower Elementary School (grades K-2): Kathy D’Andrea, Mission Hill School – Grades Kindergarten and 1st 

Green Teacher Award - Upper Elementary School (grades 3-5): KathyAnn Moody, John F. Kennedy Elementary School – K2-5th Grade 

Green Teacher Award - Middle School (grades 6-8): Fiona Bennie, The Horace Mann School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Green Teacher Award - High School (grades 9-12): Marcy Ostberg, Boston Day and Evening Academy 

Get Out and Learn Award for School-Community Partnership: The Mary M.B. Wakefield Charitable Trust & Conley Elementary School 

Exemplary Environmental Education Program Partner: “e” inc. 

Green After School Program: University of Massachusetts Boston Upward Bound, Get Fresh Crew

Exemplary Youth Environmental Employment Program: Branching Out, National Park Service - The Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation

The Boston Youth Environmental Network (www.environetwork.org) is a comprehensive system of organizations providing hands-on environmental education and employment opportunities for children and youth.  Their mission is to align existing programs and create new models of partnership to form a pathway from kindergarten through high school of formal and informal environmental education experiences and relevant, hands-on employment opportunities.