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NWP Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists - Kiddie Kingdom Preschool, Ashland, Virginia, USA

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Kiddie Kingdom Preschool, Ashland, Virginia, USA
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glclark03



Registered: December 2020
City/Town/Province: Ashland
Posts: 1
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Some of my favorite memories are of camping and hiking trips I went on growing up. A common family vacation during my childhood was living out of a camper for weeks at a time, traveling across the country and exploring national parks and forests. I found a special love and respect for the places on the earth least touched by man. Because of this, I was determined to give myself the opportunity to learn as much as I could about these places, and signed up for the Advanced Placement Environmental Science class at my school. In that class we covered many topics surrounding the health of ecosystems across the globe, and spent a lot of time learning about and understanding climate change on a deeper level than I had ever before. I was heartbroken to learn about the damage being done right within my own community. It would have been a dream to be able to help educate and inspire the people around me with the same knowledge and passion I had for the issue. However I could not see how this was possible. The sheer scope and magnitude of the problem was a huge obstacle. However, I knew that if I could commit to doing a Gold Award project centered around local climate restoration, I may have the opportunity to make a real change.
It goes without saying that climate change is not something that one person can fix. However, when given the opportunity, I was determined to do what I could to impact my own community in a meaningful way. Upon further research, I learned about the depleting pollinator population, a national phenomenon that has been exemplified in Virginia, and decided to take action on this specific facet of the bigger issue. Knowing that a one-time solution would do little to combat a problem as major as this one, my main priority was to have a continual and ongoing impact that could be carried on within my community. Eventually, I decided to partner with a local preschool and include both educational and practical aspects in my project. I knew that the best way to instill value for the planet with my community was to share my own passion with them and to help give those younger than me the tools and education I wish I had at that age in order to make a difference.
When it came to my actual project, I split my efforts into two avenues for change. First, I gave a lesson to a class at the preschool and planted a pollinator garden with the students to be maintained by the school. My goal with this was to take practical steps in order to help the pollinators in the area, as well as to help to enrich the student's education with hands-on action, which is one of the best ways to learn. The location of the preschool was also important due to the fact that the area surrounding it had recently begun to undergo construction, which had destroyed a large amount of crucial wild vegetation. I also gave the students resources to begin their own gardens at their own homes, encouraging them to continue to take steps themselves to combat the problem. After I had done all of this, I took what I had learned from teaching the lesson hands-on and applied it to a resource filled with activities to both educate in classrooms and aid in pollinator restoration. I gave this out to multiple educational organizations and facilities in the hopes of involving as many people as I could in order to have an impact that is larger than what only I could accomplish.
Overall, I believe that this is what will ultimately have the greatest and most successful influence. As someone who is extremely community-minded, I value the impact of long lasting habitual change rather than one-note events that ultimately don't have a lasting impact. I hope that my community can experience long lasting change in order to ensure a better future for all who call this planet home.
· Date: December 29, 2020 · Views: 2356 · File size: 31.5kb, 2212.1kb · : 3024 x 4032 ·
Hours Volunteered: 80
Volunteers: 2
Authors Age & Age Range of Volunteers: 40-55
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