Your support has helped get more than 4,300 students learning to love and understand our wildlife and wild places this school year. Thank you!
This has been an incredible year for Wildsight Education, with thousands of students participating in our suite of environmental education programs. With your support, 4,361 students experienced the magic of their wild backyards.
Listening to my students chat to each other about how cool it is that trees can talk to each other and how fierce the tiny chickadee is with its ability to survive the coldest winters and how we are all connected demonstrates the huge impact programs like Education in the Wild are having on these little learners. And it’s all thanks to supporters like you!
EcoStewards spotlight
With your support, we were able to bring Wildsight’s EcoStewards program to Brian Ewashen’s Grade 3-5 class in the Creston Valley’s Canyon-Lister School. The class went to a community forest where they studied tree characteristics and learned about the plants and trees in their own school forest. Then they visited a wildlife management area where they saw firsthand the interconnection of ecosystems.
“We learned what it means to be in relationship with the natural world: how we get all we need from nature, and how we can return this care and connection,” shares Wildsight Educator Melissa Flint.
Mr. Ewashen’s class then did a hands-on project, planting a remarkable 100 fir trees and 50 varied shrubs in an old water storage reservoir that’s now being restored to wetlands with habitat for amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and bees.
“I learned that we are connected in the web of life. And if one animal dies, it affects the rest of the plants and animals in the web.” – Ash
School year by the numbers
The 23 students in the Canyon-Lister class were among the 288 students that participated in an EcoStewards program this school year, which matches student enthusiasm with tangible projects in their wild backyards through multiple field trips and in-class sessions with a Wildsight educator. Donors like you allow us to bring programs such as this to more classes across the Columbia Basin.
With your support, 273 students who would have been stuck on a waitlist were able to participate in an environmental program this year, connecting them to the wild through engaging, hands-on education. In total, 4,361 students in 185 classes participated in Wildsight’s Education programs this school year! Thank you for making that possible.
1,717 students participated in Winter Wonder, which opens up the world of our snowiest season to students in Kindergarten to Grade 3. Nature Through the Seasons saw 278 students explore the changing seasons throughout the school year. 1,057 students turned into ecosystem scientists through full-day field trips with Classroom with Outdoors. Beyond Recycling saw 468 students take a 24-week journey to explore energy, water, consumption and the impacts of our lifestyles on the planet.
The goals of our education programs are simple yet powerful: get children outside into their wild backyards to instill a sense of connection and place, and to give them the tools to face the challenges of sustainability with knowledge and inspiration.
Thank you, to each of our amazing supporters, for keeping the love of the wild alive and strong this school year.
For the wild,
Jill Jennings
Education Coordinator