TIMES RECORD • October 15, 2024
During the early years of her sons’ lives, Becky Hallowell watched them climb trees and play in the backyard. Coming from a family of educators and being a fourth-grade teacher at Wiscasset Elementary School herself, she believed that her boys’ “innate wonder” would be nurtured in the public school system. She plans to use her 2025 Maine Teacher of the Year platform to “demystify nature-based play,” emphasizing that one does not need a nearby river estuary to take students outdoors.