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Students get their hands dirty at land trust for Earth Day
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
The Calverton School seventh-grader Dylan Stearn, 12, of Huntingtown and theatre and English teacher Jason Searles spread bamboo mulch Friday on the hiking trails at American Chestnut Land Trust in Port Republic. The class performed the community service project for Earth Day, which is today.
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Students from The Calverton School paid Mother Nature a visit on Friday when they volunteered at the American Chestnut Land Trust in Prince Frederick as a part of their Earth Day program.
The activity, according to The Calverton School Communications and Marketing Coordinator Holly Lee, reflects a growing relationship that the school has had with the land trust.
"Calverton has had varying levels of work with the land trust and we're looking to strengthen it for years to come," she said, explaining that the sixth- and seventh-grade students there were split into two groups. One group of students worked on invasive plant control while the other mulched hiking trails with chipped bamboo.
"It keeps [the bamboo] on the property … and helps us not have to do so much mowing on the trail, and that cuts down on our use of petroleum products," said Karen Edgecombe, who is not only the executive director of the land trust, but a former Calverton School parent.
"[Being here is] good for Calverton in that it helps the students learn ways that they can give back to the community by volunteering and it's also good for the land trust because not only do we get a lot of work accomplished but we hope the students will go home and tell their parents to come to the land trust," Edgecombe said.
Lee agreed that students having more contact with the natural world is a beneficial "no child left inside" trend she hopes will continue.
"It's like, yes, I hope you can use the computer but I want you to be able to shovel and rake too … you need all of these life skills," she said.
Middle School Principal Karl Adler worked alongside the students and agreed that he is looking forward to a long-term partnership between The Calverton School and the land trust.
"We always look for opportunities to get our kids out in the community and the more I heard about the American Chestnut Land Trust, the more I thought this would be a good opportunity for our students to work in the community and the environment," Adler said.
He said that Earth Day has always been important at his school and that this type of activity is especially fitting as "what we try to do is design hands-on activities for our students.
" … And being good stewards of the environment is important to instill in our students," Adler said.
Many of the students at the land trust said they were well on their way to being such.
"I kind of like how everyone's working together to help our planet. It sounds kind of cheesy, but it's true," said seventh-grader Luladay Price of Bowie.
She said that being outside for Earth Day helped her recognize that there's a lot she can do to help the environment in her daily life, including "turn the lights off when you leave the room, and little things like unplug things when you aren't using them."
Caleb Kornegay of Solomons said he was pleasantly surprised by the land trust.
"It's a lot more of nature [than I thought it would be], it's clean air and it's beautiful," the seventh-grader said.
