BOARDMAN — A Boardman High School teacher won recognition Tuesday for her approach to her curriculum.

Heather Moran, Boardman advanced placement biology teacher, was named “Teacher of the Year” by the Ohio Federation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts during a luncheon in Columbus.

“There are so many wonderful teachers in the area. It’s an honor to be singled out, and I’m humbled,” she said.

Nominated by Kathleen Vrable Bryan, district administrator of the Mahoning Soil and Water Conservation District, Moran said she didn’t know she was even considered for the award until last week, when Bryan called to share the good news.

“It was a surprise to me. I didn’t know I was nominated,” Moran said, laughing.

There were other awards from the conservation district, but Moran was the only educator to take the title home.

Also represented at the luncheon were the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Moran’s approach to teaching was recognized, with the nomination citing her as “enthusiastic” and able to show her students “a diverse selection of environmental issues such as water quality, how to sustainably feed people, wildlife management and forestry.”

A coach for Boardman High’s Envirothon Club for about the last decade, Moran explained the group meets for the outdoor environmental competition, which includes five stations: aquatics, forestry, soils and land, wildlife and a current environmental issue.

In 2019, Moran’s Envirothon students placed first at the annual Northeast Ohio Area 2 competition.

Becoming a biology teacher wasn’t always Moran’s trajectory.

When she began college, she didn’t expect her career to take her around the world.

Thinking that she was going into the medical field, it wasn’t until Moran worked at the Ohio State Stone Laboratory in Put-In-Bay that she became involved with environmental studies.

Eventually she became a teacher, working in Lowellville for seven years before calling Boardman her teaching home for the last 18 years.

“I always say I came from the best small district in Mahoning County and came to the best large district in Mahoning County,” Moran said.

Last year marked a big event for Moran as well as her students when she led them to Iceland.

A student who graduated last year began telling her, when he was a freshman, that she should take a group to Iceland. “He broke me down, this kid,” Moran said, adding that every time the student saw her in the halls, he would make an Iceland-related comment.

Finally, Moran began researching the costs, and when it was announced, the trip “sold out in a half hour,” she said.

Taking 17 students and two teachers, Moran said she never thought her career would take to her another country.

One of her favorite memories, she recalled, was snorkeling and “pushing” on two diverging tetonic plates.

Students also got the chance of a lifetime to witness a glacier melting at a fast-enough rate, they were “able to watch icebergs float away,” Moran said.

The group even got to drink some of the glacial water, which she she said is “the best water in the world.”

“It was just awesome,” she said of the overall experience.

afox@tribtoday.com