Ever take 41 twelve and thirteen year-olds to the woods to pull garlic mustard for a few hours? It's definitely one of those endeavors that takes a team of cooperative (if a little crazy) adults to plan and coordinate.
This is the third official year of our efforts to attack this invasive species at the site and give our students some outdoor education experiences along the way. We're determined to get them out and hopefully invested and attached to their natural environments in some important ways.
Our students removed approximately 761 pounds of garlic mustard today through teamwork, dedication, muscles, and sweat.
Amber and Adam, the interns from the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, were fantastic guides today. We appreciated their ability to keep a good sense of humor when working with our crowd of eager and energetic middle schoolers. I think both of them should consider careers as middle school educators. After all they bravely requested to ride the bus with us!
When I find myself in the middle of the woods in the middle of the kind of day where I'm usually tethered indoors, I want to send a bit of gratitude to all those people who make my kind of work possible, and to the events and forces that led me to this particularly beautiful spot on this planet.
And just when I get a little too carried away with this gratitude-in-the-moment stuff, the voices of my woods-weary students call up from points off the beaten path and bring me back: "Ms. H.! Look at this! You gotta see this!!" And it's a 7th grader, hauling a black garbage bag nearly as big as he is, brimming with just-gathered plants, huffing and puffing, all determination and smiles, heading out of the woods.
Thanks go out to Craig, Jenny, and Tony, and to Howie, for their work and fellowship this day.
No comments:
Post a Comment