News Release

Mammoth Cave Receives Environmental Education Award

Education Supervisor Jennifer Shackelford is displayed on a screen behind students at a YMCA program in South Carolina. The Mammoth Cave Environmental Education Team conducts virtual programs for classes and organizations all around the country.

NPS Photo

News Release Date: July 22, 2022

Contact: Molly Schroer, 270-758-2192

Mammoth Cave National Park’s Environmental Education (EE) program has been awarded the 2021 Southeast Regional Excellence in Education Award from the National Park Service’s (NPS). This award is the highest recognition presented to a NPS team for outstanding contributions to the profession of education, and recognizes innovation and adaptation within education program planning, development, and implementation. 

“Congratulations to our EE team on this well-deserved recognition,” said superintendent Barclay Trimble. “Every day we see how our education staff makes an impact to local students and communities through their exciting and fun education programs, but it is truly an honor for them to be selected out of all the parks in the southeast region for this award. I have been engaged in several of their school and park programs and know that this will just encourage them to keep up all their great work connecting with students and teachers from all around the state, country, and even internationally.”

The Mammoth Cave EE team served 65,771 students over the course of two years with innovative, accessible, teacher-driven Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) programs. The program focuses on a teacher-driven approach, crafting custom programs to meet the different educational and personal needs of each classroom. Through highly organized and customized education programs, the Mammoth Cave EE team creates specialized facilitated experiences for students and teachers. 

Mammoth Cave refocused its offerings during the pandemic to leverage digital platforms to provide virtual learning opportunities, which increased the number of students served. One of the highlights of shifting to digital programs was partnering with Expeditions in Education to create a high-quality HD film about the park which was delivered to thousands of students in their classrooms and facilitated a virtual STEAM project which inspired students to use household items and engineering concepts to create new groundwater filters.

For more information about Mammoth Cave’s EE program, please visit the park’s Education website.