News
May 7, 2008
Exploris Middle School Walnut Creek Field Guide Project On May 16
WHEN: Friday, May 16, at 11 a.m.
WHERE: City Council Chambers, Raleigh Municipal Building
On Friday, May 16, eighth graders at Exploris Middle School will promote the coming wetlands education center that the City of Raleigh will begin construction on later this year.
The 2003 Park and Recreation Bond Referendum included funding for the construction of a wetland education center at Walnut Creek. While the City has been working to begin construction, Exploris Middle School students have literally been blazing the trail in promoting the center.
Since September 2007, 25 Exploris Middle School students have worked on creating a field guide to the Walnut Creek wetlands to highlight this hidden wetlands treasure located about two miles from downtown Raleigh. After a year of work on the project, students will present their published field guide to the City of Raleigh for use at the new wetlands center. This event will be an opportunity for the students to present their work and to highlight the importance of the coming wetlands center.
For the students, this has been a service-learning project. Throughout the year students have been asking how this project is related to service. The tangible service has been creating the field guide which the director of the City's nature programming has committed to use in future environmental education programming. The less tangible (and possibly more important) service has been to demonstrate how urban wetlands can be a significant educational resource for schools in the area. This became clearer to the students when city council member Nancy McFarlane came along on their fieldwork recently. It will become even more evident at the event on May 16.
For more information on this presentation, please contact Frank McKay, Exploris Middle School 8th grade teacher, at 857-1059 or fmckay@explorismiddleschool.org.
Prepared by:
Cara Doyle McLeod
Marketing Coordinator
Parks and Recreation Department
For More Information Contact:
Tiffany Frost
Nature Programs Supervisor
Parks and Recreation Department
2401 Wade Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27607
919-831-6856
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