Passport to Real Science & Learning Fun!

WRITTEN BY CAROLYN ALTMAN

Where was the special outdoor place you played as a child? What do you enjoy outside now? Chances are, if you’re reading a gardening article, you love the smell of spring soil and gardenias in May. If you’re like me, you savor every blueberry you win from the birds, and if you’re as lucky as my sister, you are already planning what you will do with a bumper crop of raspberries. I’ve noticed the tiny grapes already on the vine for a fall Scuppernong harvest, and am enjoying watching bees and other pollinators revel in June blooms. But what about our children? In these days of screens and electronic media, many children don’t realize that there is a fragrant, delicious, delightful world all around them. Worse yet, they struggle to learn how that world works. Science remains abstract to those who do not experience the hands-on wonder of the natural world. We all need for our next generations to appreciate and respect the natural systems that provide us all with clean air, plentiful drinking water, and unpolluted soil. Our children need to know the scientific processes that enable us to see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and explore the world, from the smallest flower to the evocative harmony of a concerto, to the dance of the planets in our solar system. Our children will be the creative problem -solvers of our future. A number of Statesboro community partners have collaborated on an effort to make sure that every Bulloch County elementary school student will experience the physical world we all love and depend upon. Through

Project Eaglet, Georgia Southern University, Bulloch County Schools, and the Kiwanis Club of Statesboro are working together to bring every first through fifth grade to the University to make science real and learning fun.

Thanks to financial support from the Statesboro Kiwanis and Bulloch County Schools, every Bulloch County elementary school child will visit the Georgia Southern University campus according to the following schedule:

GRADE 1 - BOTANIC GARDEN AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

GRADE 2 - GEORGIA SOUTHERN PLANETARIUM

GRADE 3 - GEORGIA SOUTHERN MUSEUM

GRADE 4 - GRETSCH SCHOOL OF MUSIC

GRADE 5 - CENTER FOR WILDLIFE EDUCATION

By the time a Project Eaglet First grader has made it through fifth grade, the student will have learned how plants make food from sunlight, explored the universe, wondered at the wingspan of a raptor, learned how waves become music, and climbed inside a giant mosasaur. These Eaglets will also have had the chance to experience what a college campus feels like, and imagine a future career as a scientist, an astronaut, a musician, a historian or any one of a number of careers that probably don’t even exist yet. A chance encounter during a school assembly set me on a career path, which was especially important since no one in my family had ever been to college and didn’t really know the breadth of what was possible.

In the first year, 825 first grade students explored life cycles in the woods and gardens at the Botanic Garden, 687 second grade students gazed beyond the stars at the Planetarium, 830 third graders dug into coastal plain history at the Museum, 785 students made the universe vibrate at the Gretsch Collection, and 718 fifth graders discovered the non-human neighbors with whom we share our beautiful county. In total, 3,845 students enjoyed learning with some of the Georgia Southern organizations who celebrate the real world best.

In addition, each student received a Project Eaglet passport. The passport provides suggestions for fun to have at home, as well as ways for families to connect with the University units. If your child is a Bulloch County student, dig that passport out of their book bag and have some fun this summer. And be sure to find a favorite outdoor place to share with your child. Helping our children grow is essential gardening for the future for everyone. S