Entertaining presentations by school children about the Indian River Lagoon were the highlight of Pelican Island Audubon Society’s Christmas Party.
The festive pot-luck gathering took place at the Vero Beach Community Center on Dec. 14. The large meeting hall was full PIAS members, along with students and their families.
The students – from four south county Title 1 elementary schools – are hand-picked participants in the Audubon Advocates for the Indian River Lagoon ecological education program.
Launched in September with an $18,000 runner-up grant from Impact 100 and donations from some of Audubon’s 900 local members, the program takes place at Audubon House on Oslo Road and out on the lagoon for two hours after school Monday through Thursday.
“Twelve students from each school attend one day a week, from 3:30 to 5:30,” said PIAS President Dr. Richard Baker. “There is one teacher from each school who stays with their group throughout the 22-week program. Teachers at each school picked the children who are participating based on their academic excellence and interest in science.”
After excursions on the lagoon, the children return to the newly constructed Audubon House education and community center to journal about their activities and sketch elements of the natural world they have seen.
“We brought in an art teacher and a journalism teacher to instruct them in writing and drawing,” Baker says.
By all accounts, the fifth-grade students adore the extracurricular activity. In their presentations they spoke enthusiastically about learning the names of plants, birds and animals. They also talked about learning to pilot kayaks and traveling to islands in the lagoon to investigate the ecology of the estuary.
Students from Indian River Academy framed their presentation as a treasure hunt, passing the mic from hand to hand on stage to present their script while another student operated a PowerPoint slide show that flashed images on the screen behind them.
“Let’s go treasure hunting,” said one student.
“Who knew?” said another. “The treasure is right in our back yard.”
“It is our Indian River Lagoon!”
There was little doubt after the students spoke they will fulfill the goal Audubon has set for the program of creating well-informed, lifelong champions for preserving and restoring the waterway.
“Every day with our group has been a great joy,” said one girl. “I am very proud I got the opportunity to be part of our group to learn about the environment.”
“It is now our duty to educate our community and advocate for the lagoon,” said another student.
Speaking for the teachers involved, Glendale Elementary teacher Kimberly Slade said, “When Audubon approached me about this project, I got very excited. It is such a great opportunity to take our kids from the classroom, where they do research and learn from books, out into nature to do field study. We have been very blessed to work with a lot of experts in the scientific community, and we are really looking forward to the spring session.”
“We believe strongly the outdoor experiences on the water will inspire youngers to become the explorers, scientists, future educator and conservationists so needed in our community,” Baker wrote in the PIAS newsletter, announcing the program. “It is this hands-on outdoors experience that will encourage our children to become the watchdogs and champions of our environment.”
The program will continue through May, and Audubon is applying for another Impact 100 grant, hoping to be awarded a $100,000 stipend to expand its afterschool ecology education to include 250 students next year.
