Two local schools will receive Green Apple awards at Dunes Learning Center's annual Black Tie & Barefoot fundraiser at Gary's lakefront Marquette Park Pavilion on Friday, August 17.
The brainchild of prominent American environmentalist, Lee Botts, (a Dunes Learning Center founder and current board member) the Green Apple Award honors innovative environmental education programs across the region.
This year's award will recognize Union Center Elementary School of Valparaiso, Indiana and The Chicago Academy. Educators from each school will attend the event to accept on behalf of their schools.
Ana Brocksmith's 5th grade class has been coming to Dunes Learning Center since it opened in 1998. The Union Center educator says that her community, "looks forward to the trip every year." She adds, "Our students come away with an appreciation of scientific investigation while creating life long memories of this wonderful resource."
Chicago Academy educator, Nancy Smith adds, "Students learn more than science. They learn that they can do things they didn't expect they could do."
Schools that have integrated outdoor experiences into their curriculums see benefits to students that extend far beyond academics. "The impacts are as simple as they are undeniable," says Dunes Learning Center Executive Director, John Hayes, "Time spent outdoors makes kids happier, healthier and better prepared to succeed -- in school and in life."
Smith explains, "Being immersed in an ecosystem, students experience and comprehend many of its essential elements altogether -- something no book, video or set of photos can teach. By having fun outside while they learn, students internalize a love for nature, which is necessary if they are to steward and protect our amazing natural areas."
Echoing a sentiment shared by O'Bannon Elementary educator Kathy Gillespie in her acceptance of last year's Green Apple award, Smith says, ""The Dunes" has been mentioned in more than one valedictory speech at our school. Students who are now in college bring it up, and ask if the trip is still happening. Every year, students tell me it was their best experience of grade school. It doesn't get better than that."
Tickets to Dunes Learning Center's Black Tie & Barefoot event can be purchased through their website at www.duneslearningcenter.org. Dunes Learning Center is a non-profit organization established in 1998 in partnership with the National Park Service at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Dunes Learning Center is devoted to providing curriculum-based environmental education programs for schools throughout the Indiana Dunes region. Since it was founded, more than 60,000 children and others have participated in Dunes Learning Center programs. Learn more at www.duneslearningcenter.org or by phoning (219)395-9555.
Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore is one of the nearly 400 units of the National Park System, ranging from Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore includes 15 miles of the southern shoreline of Lake Michigan and 15,000 acres of beach, woods, marshes and prairie in the northwest corner of Indiana. More than 2 million visitors come to this national park each year. More information can be found at www.nps.gov/INDU.