Patrick Delaney has been an educator for 34 years and a teaching principal at Route 40 Elementary School in Garrett County for 29 years. Assuming multiple roles that include responsibilities as the school administrator, classroom teacher, and environmental educator, Mr. Delaney is a valuable role model of environmental stewardship to his students, colleagues, and community.

Mr. Delaney's experiences with the environment became the basis for him to conduct workshops for all county elementary schools. Through his leadership, schools began to look at their grounds in a different light. Butterfly gardens started sprouting up. Schools started to plant trees and design gardens on their school grounds to be integrated with math and science education. Mr. Delaney shows other teachers how "feet wet, hands dirty" experiences foster a student's commitment to environmental stewardship for a lifetime while providing quality environmental science instruction.

(L-R) Dr. Donald Boesch, UMCES President; Barbara Johnson; Patrick Delaney, Johnson Award Recipient; Dr. Robert Gardner, UMCES Appalachian Laboratory Director.

Mr. Delaney represents a county that embraces a commitment to developing ideals which promote environmental education by teaching students their role as stewards of the earth. He was honored with the 2006 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award for his outstanding dedication to teaching and leadership for environmental education in Garrett County.