The Great Smoky Mountains National Park team received the award for their development of Seeking Paths in Nature (SPiN), a curriculum project that integrates Cherokee culture and traditional ecological knowledge with park themes. Park staff and educators from Cherokee middle schools co-created the project, which was initiated and funded by the Cherokee Preservation Foundation.  

SPiN was created to address a desire of the Cherokee community to provide an opportunity for non-tribal students in the region to gain a deeper understanding of the culture of their Cherokee neighbors. The project and resulting classroom units are an active way to acknowledge the park’s location within the traditional homelands of the Aniyuwiya (Cherokee).  

NPS employees who have helped create and implement the SPiN project include Kaylyn Barnes, Callia Johnson, Kahawis, Erin Lamm, Jessica Metz, Natrieifia Miller, Susan Sachs, Malia Crowe Skulski, Kristina Virgil and Beth Wright. External team members include Jessica Metz, Science teacher at New Kituwah Academy; Joel Creasman, Principal, Cherokee Middle School; Beth Bramhall, Visual Information Specialist, US Forest Service; Rhonda Wise, Zone Partnership Coordinator, US Forest Service; Tinker Jenks, Senior Program Manager, Cherokee Preservation Foundation; and Laura Pinnix and Marie Junaluska, Cherokee Speakers Council members.  

The award was dedicated posthumously to Julie Townsend, who served as SPiN Project Coordinator from 2015 to 2019.