Coventry High School teacher Peter Stetson works in the school’s greenhouse with Envirothon Club members, from left, David Johnson, Sarah Noyes, Amanda Studley and Ghyllian Conley.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

COVENTRY — When Peter Stetson, a science teacher at Coventry High School, was a child he loved poring over colorful books about historical events; in college, he initially pursued history as a major. But growing up on his parents’ 60-acre farm in Richmond fueled another passion in Stetson: a love for the outdoors.

He recalls there was a cave, wild foxes, cranberry bogs, pitcher plants and plenty of oaks, maples and hickory trees. “I loved going over the land. I was an explorer. I was finding things for the first time and then I’d find new stuff.”

Stetson, 55, turned his passion for the environment into a desire to teach. It has earned him the respect of the Southern Rhode Island Conservation District, which has named him the 2007 Conservation Teacher of the Year. The nonprofit group provides technical support for local farmers and presents environmental programs in schools. Stetson will receive the award tonight at the organization’s annual dinner.

“If you could find a job that you would do for free and got paid for it, then that’s the job you want,” Stetson, a Richmond resident, always tells his students.

Stetson teaches earth and environment studies to about 125 students in grades 9 through 12. He is active in preparing students for the state and national Envirothon competitions and for fostering concern about the environment. He has taken a team to the Envirothon state competition every year since 2000 and twice to the national competition. Coventry High School won the state competition in 2004.

“Over the years he’s had outstanding teams,” said Alicia Lenhrer, the general manager at the conservation district. “It says to us, he is really dedicated to teaching the kids about the environment.”

Stetson began teaching at Coventry High School in 1977 and after five years was laid off for five years, and then returned in 1987.

Whether he’s teaching hydroponics or raising trout, tinkering with a weather station or taking students into the forest, Stetson seems to always have something up his sleeve. Even his attire is distinctive: colorful shirts, mix-match ties and Converse sneakers, a different-color sneaker on each foot.

His wife, Denise, says her husband spends a lot time at the couple’s Richmond farm home coming up with ideas. “He works like a dog,” she said.

Long hours go easy for Stetson, who admits the job is really a six-day-a-week gig. If he’s not actively teaching in the classroom, he’s taking his students on field trips on his days off, or spending entire days grading papers and projects.

Stetson is a native of Saxonburg, Pa. His family moved to the Richmond farm in the mid 1960s. He initially attended Alfred University in New York and for two years he diligently studied history. But one summer he concluded there wasn’t much he could do with a history degree.

“I couldn’t see a career it in. I didn’t think my grades were good enough to get into law school,” he said, recalling that he really liked being outdoors.

Stetson decided to enroll at the University of Rhode Island and took classes in plant and animal science. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture resources and obtained his student-teaching certification in 1976.

Stetson taught at the West Bay Vocational Technical School, in Coventry, for a year before being assigned to Coventry High.

At the high school, he first taught natural resources and horticulture as electives. In 1982, those programs were merged into the vocation school and Stetson was laid off. Though he had just earned his master’s degree in adult and youth education from URI in 1982, he took a job with the Boy Scouts of America teaching in the organization’s co-ed program. When the Coventry system needed teachers to work in the high school’s Alternative Learning Program in 1987, Stetson jumped at the chance to get back to the Coventry schools.

Stetson was eventually reassigned to teach general science to freshman. By 1996 he was teaching all grades and training students for the prestigious Envirothon science competition.

Stetson worked with the team of architects who redesigned the high school in 2001 to create specialized science labs. They include the special room to raise trout, a greenhouse and a weather station.

“The global-warming issue is probably the environmental issue for the next 50 years,” Stetson said. “It’s going to be on their shoulders. I’m not going to be around, but I can at least teach it to them.”

lsparks@projo.com