Schools honored for environmental education

Friday, Nov. 4, 2005

Nine Frederick County schools were recognized for their efforts to extend education outside the classroom on Thursday.

The schools participated in the Schoolyard Habitat Project, conducting habitat restoration projects to benefit wildlife and water quality.

Britt Slattery, who coordinates outreach and education programs for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services’ Chesapeake Bay field office, said that from cleaning up streams and planting trees to authoring grants, the project’s activities are a perfect match with classroom instruction.

‘‘This is integrated through their curriculum, giving students practical applications of how the environment fits into their whole lives, whether it is through real math skills or even language arts,” she said.

The project also meets the requirement of the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement, which states students must be provided with meaningful bay or stream experiences in Maryland. While miles away from the bay, students in Frederick County used their own schoolyards and local streams that ultimately feed into the larger body of water.

At Catoctin High School, students analyzed a nearby stream as well as constructing a nature trail and butterfly garden for those at the school and in the community.

Senior Jacob Puhl said that everyone came together for the projects and got a firsthand look at how they could improve their surroundings.

‘‘This really raised student awareness of environmental problems like litter and pollution,” he said. ‘‘Cleaning the stream was a real hands-on way to look at science and life.”

Other schools participating in the pilot initiative were Emmitsburg, Sabillasville, and Thurmont elementary schools; Thurmont, Gov. Thomas Johnson and West Frederick middle schools; and Frederick and TJ high schools.

For more information on this story, please see the Nov. 10 edition of The Gazette.