AUBURN – The Androscoggin Valley Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors presented Cameron Parker with the Conservation Educator of the Year Award at the annual meeting in February.

Parker is an enthusiastic and talented environmental educator, working at the Auburn Land Lab. She came to Maine five years ago to work at the Maine Conservation School in Bryant Pond.

After working there a year, she became an AmeriCorps volunteer and worked in the water education program at Maine Department of Environmental Protection. She conducted watershed education with numerous presentations at schools. She helped coordinate the Children’s Water Festival, which reached students all over Maine.

For her second year with AmeriCorps, Parker signed on with the Auburn Land Lab, where she was eventually hired full time by the Auburn School Department.

Over the last three years at the Auburn Land Lab, Parker has worked with more than 4,000 visiting students each year. The activities presented might be kindergarten students studying earthworms, elementary students doing environmental studies while snowshoeing, middle school students doing team building on the low ropes course, or high school students becoming involved in service learning to help educate the public on stormwater issues.

Parker has coached a local team of high school students participating in a regional envirothon competition, applying problem-solving skills in the area of natural resources. She directs the Land Lab summer camp program, teaching more than 200 students each summer. The community also benefits from her abilities through her active service on the Lewiston/Auburn trails.

Parker is an educator who puts a great deal of energy into her work, who is able to spark enthusiasm for learning in all those she teaches, and makes learning engaging and fun for her students.