Sandi Oehlert Yanisko of the Boyertown Area School District has been selected as the 2002 PAESP/MetLife Service to Children Award recipient. She has made a broad positive impact on all of the children at the Washington Elementary School.

   Mrs. Yanisko, a parent volunteer, has organized and implemented a multifaceted outdoor classroom project that has enriched the education of 660 students at the Washington Elementary School. She created excitement for this project by mobilizing many volunteers in the creation of a habitat classroom and aquatic classroom. The habitat classroom includes a brick patio surrounded by 65 trees and shrubs and more than 600 bulbs in the gardens with bird feeders. This area provides hands-on opportunities for students to learn about habitats, the food chain, plants and it will provide a place for instruction. The aquatic classroom, installed by volunteers, includes a pond with a waterfall leading to a larger pond. The aquatic plants and fish provide an area for the students to learn about the water cycle and ecosystems. A work area with a sculpture garden created by students and a weather station with a rock garden will complete the outdoor classroom this year.

   Mrs. Yanisko organized teachers and parents to review ways on how to fully utilize the school’s courtyard to benefit all students at Washington Elementary School. She planned and implemented a classroom project that used the environment in an integrated context to meet cross-curriculum academic standards.

   Mrs. Yanisko also saw the project as a way to actively engage parents, teachers and the business community since they are major stakeholders in the school’s educational program.