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“I think the general public is learning the importance of going green and what better place to start than with the children? An Earth Day event is a wonderful time to kick it off,” said Annette Davis, education coordinator with the Newberry County Soil and Water Conservation District.
Students from Newberry and Prosperity-Rikard elementary schools walked along the preserve's gravel paths to the six educational stations set up around the park, featuring specialists from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, county officials and the Clemson Extension. Students spent 20 minutes with each expert learning about earth science.
Under a pavilion surrounded on three sides by soft hills and tall pines, Casey Willingham's Prosperity-Rikard class intently listened as Joy Sullivan of the Department of Natural Resources taught about SWAPA-the five controllable natural resources of soil, water, animals, plants and air.
“I'm going to have to write that down,“ one girl said after Sullivan suggested holding on to that information for the fifth grade.
Up the hill a bit near the park entrance, Reid Brigman, 9, of Prosperity-Rikard learned about woodland animals through a pelt exhibit.
“They said that the opossum was probably one of the only marsupials that lives in the United States,“ Reid said afterwards. “I also learned that the red fox isn't native here. I also learned that the gray fox can climb trees.“
Mina Brooks, science coach for Boundary Street and Gallman elementary schools, says the pairing of specialist and students was a nice fit.
“All these agencies usually have an educational component to it, so they're usually searching for ways in which they can give out and give into the schools,“ said Brooks.
The event started as a small idea in Brooks' mind but quickly blossomed. Brooks was only hoping to help third graders learn more about soil to satisfy curriculum standards, and contacted Davis to speak to students.
Davis then brought up the idea with others in her office, and a brainstorm led to a large-scale Earth Day educational field trip.
“It kind of snowballed into this,“ said Brooks. “I'm glad it did. I was just looking at one thing with the standard, so (Davis) started in, ‘We could do this with the soil, we could do this with the natural resources,' and she started telling me all these people that they could contact, that maybe they would come and set up stations.“
Seeing the success and pending teachers' response, Brooks and Davis foresee the beginning of a long-standing, annual event.
“We decided we wanted to pilot this year to see how it went.
“Of course we're going to do surveys with the teachers and get feedback from them to see what they think, but (long-term is) our goal.“ Brooks said.
Beyond just a good pairing of experts and learners, Brooks says Lynches Woods was the perfect spot for the event-being nearby and suitable for education.
“I heard so many (students) on bus getting off say, ‘I've never been here before,'“ said Brooks. “They don't even realize that this is here and available to our county. I'm hoping it's going to make them more aware of the environment out of the confines of four walls. What better way to learn about nature, other than being in nature?“
Reid was grateful for the trip and says he'd rather learn about science while being outside rather than in a classroom, “so I can experience it.“
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