Top of the Class:
Tourist spots court area educators, offer classes
Northern Neck News, August 6, 2008
By Starke Jett
After collecting their water samples for the testing that afternoon, a half dozen middle and elementary school teachers from the region participating in a teacher workshop followed Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge interns Rosalind Wu and Dominique Norman across the Wilna Pond catwalk. It hovers a few feet above the still water's dam and the extensive marsh on the other side. The refuge is expanding its educational outreach program by opening its doors to local students, so they can appreciate and learn about the vast natural resource that is so close.
Wilna Pond is a beautiful, tranquil site centered in the heart of one of the refuge tracts outside of Warsaw off of Newland Road. It is not easy to find if you have never been there before. But the workshop organizers hope that the teachers will be convinced it is worth the search. An environmentally designed educational center built last year near the pond, is the focus of the refuge's outreach program. Two very large solar panels flank the simple but effective modular unit that looks like a regular home from the outside.
"We have needed a place for awhile for environmental education," said Wu. The teachers were here on July 30 to participate in the first such workshop since the refuge opened in 1996, according to Wu. It is designed to encourage local schools to use the refuge and schedule educational activities for their students.
With the rising price of gas and other educational funding cutbacks, the refuge should prove to be an invaluable resource for teaching science and environmentally oriented subjects to regional schools. A partnership with the nearby Menokin Foundation expands that value to history and architecture.
The two organizations jointly sponsored the two-day teacher workshop to introduce the possibilities to local teachers. Rappahannock Community College is involved with the effort by enabling participating teachers to get credit for their teaching certification. The workshop was funded by private and federal grants. Kerry Garrett was hired last year by the Menokin Foundation after the group received a grant from the O'Neill Foundation, an educational organization. Garrett was assigned by Menokin Director Sarah Pope to develop educational programs and coordinate volunteer recruitment for the foundation. Although Pope developed one of the lesson plans for the workshop, Pope gives Garrett all the credit for getting this outreach program running. Garrett was largely responsible for coordinating with the refuge and RCC, Pope said. "It was more like a give and take session with the teachers," said Pope about the workshop. "Not only did we give them tools to take back to their classrooms, but they gave us feedback on how to get the local schools to come out here."
The workshop was also an opportunity for Wu, a rising biology senior at George Mason University, and Norman, an environmental science senior at Virginia Tech, to practice their teaching skills to a group of pros. They agree that the outreach program will enhance the refuge mission. "It connects the students to the environment," said Wu, who has interned at the refuge for three years. "It will make them realize this place is right in their backyard." "Getting the kids connected early will help them do more as adults to save the environment," said Norman.
Joyce Beverly of Potomac Elementary School, Dorothy Beverly of Richmond County Elementary School, Sue Joslyn of Aylett Country Day School, Nancy Martin of Lancaster Middle School, Holly Ransone of Washington and Lee Middle School and Sandra Smyre of Lancaster middle School participated in the workshop. At the educational center, they dropped premixed test tablets into clear vials of the Wilna Pond water samples they had collected to determine dissolved oxygen content, and nitrate and phosphate levels, which are the two main pollutants in area waters. Joslyn, who teaches fourth and fifth grade math and science, discussed the value of the program. "The people here are very well prepared and organized. They have all the resources and equipment," she said. "It is critical to have this for getting these children outdoors and involved in the conservation of the area."
Bottom to top, from left: Holly Ransone, Sue Joslyn, Sandra Smyre, Nancy Martin, Joyce Beverly, and Dorothy Beverly
Collecting a water sample at Wilna Pond
Reviewing a history lesson plan at the Menokin Visitors Center
Sarah Pope and Kerry Garrett give teachers a tour of the Menokin ruins