Hull Award Recipients

Stan Wood

2024

Stan Wood (The Palmetto GC of South Carolina Zone VIII) is a teacher and coach who founded the PEAK (Pursuit of Environmental Adventure and Knowledge) Program at Heathwood Hall in Columbia, South Carolina. PEAK presents students with hands-on opportunities in wilderness exploration, environmental education, and leadership development. From exploring their own 100-acre campus to scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro, Stan has taught generations of children to see the natural world as he does - something beautiful and something fragile and something worth protecting.

Page Skinner Thomas

2024

Page Skinner Thomas (Late Bloomer’s GC Zone VIII) is a pharmacologist teaching at the North Florida School of Special Education where she enriches the lives of students with intellectual and developmental differences through innovative garden initiatives. Her classes are filled with incredible lessons, not only about our wonderful earth but also about how students can change the way they think about plants and food. Her commitment to fostering inclusivity and promoting meaningful connections among students from diverse backgrounds has been the cornerstone of her work.

Lauren Theis

2024

Lauren Theis (GC of Somerset Hills Zone IV) is the Director of Education at Raritan Headwaters where she instructs environmental educators and engages thousands of children and their families annually in outdoor learning experiences. She has established innovative programs ranging from the creation of Fairy Woods to Bugs and Blooms to a sensory garden to inspire students with a sense of place and a deep connection with nature. Lauren is also an artist, avid birder, and photographer – all talents that inspire and energize the children with whom she works and motivates them to return to the program year after year.

Terry Smith

2024

Terry Smith (Piedmont GC Zone XII) is a born educator and advocate for the natural environment. Her entire life has been dedicated to teaching and helping others to understand the importance of the health of the environment, sustainability, maintenance and expansion of habitat, and the importance of individual contributions to these efforts. She is co-founder of Piedmont Connect and the Pollinator Posse, a nonprofit organization that, through outreach, focuses on pollinator-friendly landscaping. She is also a retired teacher whose first-grade garden became part of Alice Waters’ Edible Schoolyard Project.

Abraham Saldana

2024

Abraham Saldana (Founders GC of Dallas Zone IX) is the head of the Jubilee Park & Community Center's Community Garden where he engages youth in the lessons of growing food - from planting seed to harvesting to giving back to an underserved community. Under Abraham’s leadership, the garden has grown to include more than 20 beds, fruit trees and a propagation tower where he propagates plants for children to take home to their families. Abraham is a prime example of an individual with a servant’s heart. He is passionate about gardening and nature and an inspiration to the families of the Jubilee Park community.

Sheila Williams Ridge

2024

Sheila Williams Ridge (St. Paul GC, Zone XI) Dr. Williams Ridge directs the Child Development Laboratory Preschool at the University of Minnesota and is Co-Founder of the Minneapolis Nature Preschool, which primarily serves a racially, culturally and economically diverse population of local families and commits to year-round outdoor education for preschoolers. Sheila is a modest but passionate and impressive changemaker in nature-based education. She exhibits a rare talent of being able to teach at the grass roots level as well as develop programs that can be implemented by others.

Tim Kalan

2024

Tim Kalan (Shaker Lakes GC, Zone X) is an art teacher at the Onaway Elementary School and director of the Garden Clubs at both Onaway and Lomond Elementary Schools in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He is also the director of the Native Plant Sale at the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes where his Club members, current and past, help him grow native plants to donate to the community at their Homegrowns Sale. Tim melds the science of ecological relationships together with the joy of hands-on experience. His work has had a lasting impact on creating the next generation of environmentally responsible gardeners.

Blake Goll

2024

Blake Goll (The GC of Philadelphia, Zone V) is the Education Programs Manager for Willistown Conservation Trust. She developed the Trust’s Rushton Nature Keepers, a remarkable full-year curriculum designed to instruct children ages 8-11 about the many floras and fauna that make up a healthy habitat. Her primary goal for the program is to inspire children to develop a lifetime of caring about and protecting nature. Her holistic approach explores the connections among land, birds, habitat, farming and water into a program that makes a big impression on children, many of whom are hearing about these connections for the first time.

Patricia Galbreath

2024

Patricia Galbreath, (GC of Halifax Country, Zone VIII), is a dedicated and accomplished 25+ year educator at the Holly Hill School. Through her training as a STEM teacher, she has mentored and inspired students and cultivated leaders in science and math by incorporating the lessons of gardening into her curriculum, with an emphasis on trees. Her classroom is a unique haven for blooming gardeners, scientists, and inquisitive scholars. Her work extends beyond the classroom and includes a music ministry at her church and involvement with the Florida Educators Technology Conference.

Chloe Dente

2024

Chloe Dente (GC of Lookout Mountain, Zone IX) serves as the Education and Volunteer Coordinator at Crabtree Farms where she welcomes over 2,000+ school aged youth annually to participate in urban farm-based education. She promotes and facilitates collaboration between Chattanooga area schools and Crabtree farms to design educational opportunities, develop internships, and train youth volunteers. Her dynamic teaching style and unwavering commitment to environmental stewardship have surely left an indelible mark on the young minds of her community.