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C&O Canal Park Ranger Honored For Interpretation And Eduction Excellence

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Published Date

November 21, 2017

Ranger Hollie Lynch has received the National Park Service's highest award for excellence in education and interpretation/NPS

A park ranger from Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park has been honored with the National Park Service's highest honor for excellence in interpretation and education. Hollie Lynch, the park's education coordinator, received the 2017 Freeman Tilden Award for her role in developing and implementing a series of innovative curriculum-based park programs for 200 schools in Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. 

“Hollie turned the historic C&O Canal into an outdoor classroom for more than 10,000 elementary and high school students last year,” said acting National Park Service Director Michael T. Reynolds. “Her unique educational programs brought history and science to life, turning textbook subjects into multisensory experiences that will be long remembered.”

In multiple locations along the 185-mile long C&O Canal the park provides a classroom without walls for teachers and Pre-K-12 students in neighboring school districts. The programs support national and state learning standards, feature pre/post visit materials, and offer students hands-on and STEM-based activities.

Ms. Lynch designed the programs in partnership with local educators. She also recruited and trained volunteers for the Canal Classroom Corps which helped lead the presentations. Through their combined efforts, many teachers now view the park as a dynamic classroom that enhances curriculum and provides students with meaningful learning experiences.

Since 1981, the annual Freeman Tilden Award has recognized outstanding contributions to the practice of interpretation and education by a National Park Service employee. The award was created to stimulate and reward creative thinking that results in positive impacts upon the preservation of the parks and the visiting public. The award is named for Freeman Tilden, who has inspired generations of interpreters across the world and whose Interpreting Our Heritage continues to be a definitive text for the discipline.

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Comments

Submitted by Rick B. on November 21, 2017 - 12:53pm.

Well done.


Submitted by Harry Hunt on November 29, 2017 - 1:24pm.

Congratulations, Ms. Lynch!


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