Seasons are Changing & School's in Session! |
|
|
Can you believe we are already nearly three months into the school year? How fast time flies when you're working hard and having fun! The SRT Education Department has multiple exciting updates for the new year, including new programs, new staff, and new students! Read on to find out more about what's going on, and how to get involved! |
|
|
ABOVE: Nature Explorers enjoy a fun hike through Kaweah Oaks Preserve and learn about the local environment and watersheds from SRT Education Technicians |
| SRT's Education Department has launched a new program! In partnership with Visalia Unified School District's Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP), our team is providing a fun, hands-on, educational program to all elementary schools across Visalia! |
This program consists of six 6-week sessions that take place throughout the school year. In each session, SRT works with 4-5 elementary schools in Visalia to provide meaningful, hands-on, environmental education to the students enrolled in the afterschool program! SRT staff created a comprehensive curriculum for program leaders to teach on campus during the afterschool program, which is complemented by a weekly afterschool fieldtrip to Kaweah Oaks Preserve for each school's cohort! |
We have now completed two 6-week sessions of 12 fieldtrips each, and have gotten nearly 150 elementary students out to the preserve for exploration and fun! At the end of each trip, we host a larger, full-day weekend event for all participating students, families, teachers, and program leaders to celebrate a successful session, and congratulate the students for becoming official "Nature Explorers!" |
|
|
We would like to send a special thank you to Visalia Unified School District, ProYouth HEART, and all the program leaders and site directors for their support throughout this program. We would also like to recognize and thank Johnny Sartuche and Jennifer Malone (and family) for joining us and supporting the outdoor education and hands-on experiences by sharing local native culture and stories with our students! |
|
|
| SRT's Sequoia Environmental Youth Leaders and EARTH Academy programs are off to a great start!
We are so excited to once again partner with Monache High School, Granite Hills High School, and Lindsay High School to provide the THIRD year of the SEYL program! This program has been hugely successful in the past, with over 100 high school interns training and graduating from the program! Over the past two years, we have also had hundreds of elementary students learn and explore SRT's McCarthy Blue Oak Ranch Preserve under the guidance of these high school interns. This year, we have an amazing group of nearly 60 high school interns in the program who have already made great progress towards creating and developing field trip lessons that they will then lead in the Spring! It will be exciting to see the final results and watch them lead the elementary students later in the year!
SRT's EARTH Academy program is also thriving this year! We are now in our SEVENTH year of the internship, and it is just getting better every year! We are looking forward to a great sequence of classroom sessions and field trips with our new cohort of nearly 60 high school interns, who are joining the program from schools across Tulare County (including Monache High School, Mission Oak High School and Woodlake High School)!
We could not run these programs without the gernous support of our partners! We would like to send a special thank you to the California Natural Resources Agency for their third consecutive year of support for SEYL program! |
|
|
ABOVE: Sequoia Environmental Youth Leaders and EARTH Technicians participate in hands-on team building and group activities at SRT nature preserves and on their own school campuses |
|
|
Nicole Buckner - Education Coordinator |
Nicole Buckner joins SRT as an Education and Volunteer Coordinator. Originally from Indiana, Nicole graduated with a degree in Sociology and relocated to California 5 years ago. Here at SRT, she will be responsible for supporting the Education team with internship and field trip coordination, as well as volunteer events. She is excited to help get more students, schools, and communities involved with SRT. In her free time, she enjoys fiber art, reading, and hiking.
|
|
|
Destiny Treglown -
Education Technician |
| Ferrin Driver -
Education Technician |
|
|
Destiny Treglown and Ferrin Driver are SRT's new Education Technicians! They are working together, along with the rest of the Education team, to lead and support coordination for the new Nature Explorers afterschool program! We are so glad to have them join us on staff, and we are looking forward to a great year ahead with this program! |
|
|
Join us or our partners at any of our fun events over the next few months! |
|
|
| Check out the Dry Creek Nursery for some beautiful CA native plants for your garden! |
|
|
Click Here for more information about upcoming events, or to RSVP to volunteer. |
| |
|
Stay informed about upcoming events and opportunities by following our social media! |
|
|
With the new school year comes renewed efforts to increase the capacity of educators to teach about the local environment and climate! All of the work that the SEED network did last year only laid the foundation for what will come this year! |
We have a series of virtual meetings and workshops, in-person gatherings/learning sessions, and so much more planned for this coming year! Check out the flier for more information about what's in store for the 2024-2025 year! |
Sound interesting? Are you a teacher who wants to learn more about providing environmental education and climate-focused lesson plans in your classroom? Or do you just want to get inolved in strengthening local education and expanding the SEED network? Click on the links below! | | |
|
Sequoia Riverlands Trust 427 S Garden Street, Visalia, CA 93277 | 559-738-0211 |
| |
|
|
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
