Over the past year, Environmental Science teachers Kiersten Donahue and Amanda Gardener have been working with Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden. They have both been working with  Education Director Elise Sheffield since the summer. Together, they have been making a pacing guide for the Environmental Science classes this year. 

“She has been an amazing resource to us,”said Gardener. “She has given us tons of resources and materials, and she has helped us develop and implement them into our classrooms. She has also helped orchestrate our field investigations that we’ve done so far this year, and has been instrumental in the initiative to get students outside more and expose them to their environment.”

In the Environmental Science classes, students will be using the resources given to them by the staff of Boxerwood, and spending more time outside.

“We have meetings frequently to update on how our projects and activities are going and what else we can do with students looking forward. Elise even assisted us in writing a grant to get more supplies for our students to aid in their field investigations,” said Gardener. “I really can’t say enough about what she and the Boxerwood staff have done for our Environmental Science program at RCHS.”

Thanks to the staff of Boxerwood, RCHS students in the Environmental Science program will have many more opportunities to complete activities that involve their community. They have more resources and knowledge for and about Environmental Science topics.

           “We will be meeting Oct. 14 to discuss the next nine weeks. I believe the plan is to do a BioBlitz that Mrs. Gardener is organizing,” said Donahue. “This will involve local natural resource professionals and other community leaders helping RCHS students with a biodiversity survey on campus with the idea to implement some kind of outdoor biodiversity plan this fall.”

            This fall, there will be more opportunities for students to learn about nature and spend more time looking for details in the biodiversity of different organisms.

“We would not be able to do what we do or give students near the opportunities that we have been able to offer without the help of Boxerwood,” said Gardener.