This award recognizes educators who are reflective in their practice and constantly strive to improve their craft. To win this award is simply an honor, as this group of educators are truly the best at making learning meaningful and relevant for students. This way, students can become creative problem solvers who will know how to apply what they have learned to new situations.

Carrie Settles Livers Snellville, GA | 7-12, Science, 2021

The official biography below was current at the time of the award.

Carrie Settles Livers began her teaching career teaching science at Forsyth Central High School in 2004. Currently, she teaches Advanced Placement Environmental Science and Ag-STEM to 11th and 12th graders at Brookwood High School. During her 14-year tenure at Brookwood, she also taught biology and physics and has served as the Co-Science Department Chair for the past 11 years. Carrie helped write the first set of district standards for the Ag-STEM course she worked to bring to Gwinnett County Public Schools (GCPS) five years ago, titled “Natural Resource Management”. She also currently serves as the Agriculture Cluster Coach for GCPS. Carrie makes learning relevant by bringing in real-world problems for students to solve. When she was on the committee that helped implement the first-ever food waste audit for GCPS, she had students help with the planning and implementation. They also helped to plan the installation of a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine, and a semi-commercial aquaponics system. This aquaponics system is the basis for a school-based entrepreneurial enterprise. Carrie takes her students every year to the University of Georgia’s Marine Biology Extension Center at Skidaway Island where they study coastal ecology. She has presented sessions on incorporating entrepreneurship into the science curriculum and on incorporating aquaponics into the environmental science classroom. Carrie earned her B.S. in biology from the University of Georgia, her M.Ed. in science education from Georgia State University, and her Education Specialist degree in instructional technology from Kennesaw State University. She is currently certified in science education, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and instructional technology.

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