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Education Home > The Nature of Learning Home > Project Site Links >
John Heinz Stewards, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
While it is common for each school to choose
their own stewardship project based on the student’s curriculum and
interest, John Heinz has coordinated events where all students can
assist in managing the refuge. In the spring of 2002, 150 students
from Turner and Vare Middle Schools, Longstreth and Patterson Elementary
Schools donated 9 hours of their time to remove Garlic Mustard from
select areas on the refuge. The effort, coordinated by Erika Scarborough
as well as three Friends volunteers, removed 15 trash bags full of
the non-native Garlic Mustard and planted 400 native plants including
New England Aster, Wild Bergamont, Brown-eyed Susan and Blue Flag
Iris.
Friends of the Heinz NWR — www.friendsoftinicummarsh.org
In addition to the site visits and stewardship projects planned in
the and around the refuge, Earth Stewards is honored to have the support
of the Friends of John Heinz. Beginning in the summer of 2002, FORE
has begun promoting Earth Stewards to their volunteers as well as
supporting Earth Stewards through grant writing. Jean Diehl, Ned Connely,
Marty Newman, and Tom Reeves are all members of the Friends of the
Heinz Refuge and active volunteers. All share a passion for the outdoors
and for educating the next generation.
Professional Development
The John Heinz Stewards site has a strong professional development
component involving training for educators throughout the year. They
include: pre-trip orientations, Introduction to Environmental Education,
Project Learning Tree, and Project Wild and Wetlands Adventure in
the spring. Forty eight credit hours will also be given for those
teachers who complete the program and provide a summary report regarding
class accomplishments to refuge staff at the end of the year.
Several of the Earth Stewards teachers attended the Earth Force GREEN
(POW) Training held at the refuge. This covered a process for service
learning. Earth Stewards teachers benefit from the stewardship project
training while establishing a closer relationship to refuge. The refuge
staff works with educators throughout the year on their projects,
site visits, planning meetings, and celebratory events. For more information
about the Philadelphia Earth Force contact Janet Starwood and Jean
Wallace or visit the Earth Force website at
www.earthforce.org
Longstreth Elementary School
Chuck Lafferty is a Kindergarten teacher at Longstreth Elementary
School. Stationed in the annex near a vacant lot, his students have
changed it into a garden that has recently been certified by NFWF
as a schoolyard habitat. The habitat area serves as an outdoor classroom
where the students of the Longstreth School can have a hands-on inquiry
based approach to study nature and their environment.
His students visit the refuge to explore the concept of habitats and
have constructed tree swallow wood duck boxes that will be put up
at the refuge. As part of the John Heinz Stewards program, they are
extending the school habitat area to the entire school grounds and
have started a native plant nursery to help other schools get started
with their own Schoolyard Wildlife Habitat.
The Kinder-Garden Seed Company is Longstreth Elementary’s answer to
the community outreach component of the program. This is a nonprofit
company as that donates all seeds to teachers and the community. Here
is how it works:
- Kindergarten students organically grow seeds in our garden
- The children harvest the seed and prepare them for packaging
- Each label is designed by the student making it unique to that
student's view of the flower
- The seeds are counted out and placed in reusable plastic bags
- Seeds are distributed to other classes for science projects
and donated to the community during Earth Day celebrations.
This year the Kinder-Garden Seed Company will be expanding seed inventory
to include native perennials as well as developing bookmarks made
from recycled paper with seeds added in the process. They will also
be printing a brochure to help other schools who visit the refuge
get started with their own Schoolyard Habitat area.
John M. Patterson Elementary School 
Maury Hutelmyer is the Science teacher and the Environmental SLC leader
for Patterson Elementary School. He is the project leader for Patterson’s
involvement in John Heinz Stewards that includes eight teachers and
247 students reaching from Kindergarten to 4th grade. Maury has been
active in the Children's Water Monitoring Network. For several years,
Patterson students have been coming to the refuge on a weekly basis
to perform tests on Darby Creek where students continue learning about
water quality issues and non-point source pollution.
Stewardship projects implemented by Patterson students include:
- Reduction of non-point source pollution in the lower Darby Creek by stenciling sewers with "No dumping! Drains to River."
- Reduction of non-point source pollution in the lower Darby Creek
by educating the students of Patterson School in environmental
issues dealing with water quality.
- Reduction of non-point source pollution in lower Darby Creek
by educating the general public with information provided by the
Philadelphia Water Company. This information will be distributed
to homes and community groups.
- Education of the students with the latest technology (word processing
data entry, comparison of data, and web site construction) so
that they may have the skills to communicate with others about
the hazards of non-point source pollution.
Vare Middle School
Larry Stier is the project leader for Vare Middle School, whose students
visit the John Heinz Refuge weekly. Over the past ten years, Vare
students have assisted with various projects on the refuge like trash
collection and recycling. This year, however, they are engaged in
a community development project that could change the Schuylkill River
forever.
 Working
with the Schuylkill River Development Council (SRDC), Vare Middle
School students are creating a new vision for the lower Schuylkill
River. Two 7th grade classes and one special education class, Life
Skills Support, from Vare's environmental L.I.V.E. team are studying
the Schuylkill River corridor and man's impact on it.
The students visited three different sections of the Schuylkill: industrial,
residential, and natural, as they studied the history of man's interactions
with the river. The students then developed their own proposals for
the future of the river corridor; researching, creating, and presenting
their personal visions. The best of these proposals were presented
at a community meeting sponsored by SRDC and held at Vare on Wednesday,
April 17, 2002. These proposals, which included a new dog park, performing
arts center, environmental education center, hotel/ restaurant, and
shopping mall, grew out of a semester long collaboration between the
school and the Schuylkill River Development Council. The Council,
which is seeking public involvement in its community building and
vision initiative, saw Vare students as a great way to reach into
the community. The School saw the initiative as a perfect service-learning
project.
Vare students learned about community involvement by creating surveys
to measure local interest in river development and distributing leaflets
to help promote the community meetings. |
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