WESTON, Maine — East Grand School’s commitment to providing its students with unique educational experiences that embrace the outdoor heritage of the region is getting a boost.
Thanks to $80,000 in support from The Conservation Fund, as part of a Healthy People Healthy Places grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, the school will expand its teaching capacity in all grades to develop a natural resource-centric curriculum that meets core standards during the 2017 and 2018 school years.
The grant will enable the school to continue the work to develop and offer a comprehensive Natural Resources Program and Pathway to students. This pathway builds on existing programs like Outdoor Education, the rejuvenation of the Garden Project, the two-year Chewonki trip and Physical Education.
School principal Margaret White remarked on the school’s vision. “With this grant, East Grand is in the position to discover new pathways for students, but more importantly, it has provided us with an experienced Project Consultant/Mentor, Sarah Strickland,” she said. “Sarah is training the East Grand staff and our new Natural Resources Pathway Coordinator Jill Plummer, so this work can continue well beyond the next year or two. This grant is helping to change the culture of our school and how we look at education.”
During the 2016-2017 school year, East Grand School constructed an outdoor classroom adjacent to its main building for hands-on learning and exploration for students in Pre-Kindergarten through 12th Grade, which was also supported with a grant from The Conservation Fund. The new teaching space has enabled the school to offer hands-on work in ecology, forestry, and weather. It also served as an additional venue for assemblies and school gatherings.
The grant was made possible as part of The Conservation Fund’s East Grand Lake Watershed Initiative—a landmark conservation project in eastern Maine that will ultimately protect 30 miles of undeveloped shoreline on five lakes and create new possibilities for local economic growth in the towns of Weston and Orient.
In 2011, the Fund purchased more than 12,000 acres of high-value working forestland that contributes to the local economy through recreation, clean water and timber production. The national nonprofit organization is working to raise funds for the permanent protection of this land and build economic development opportunities that benefit the local youth, health and well-being. Roughly 7,500 acres of this land in Orient was conserved in 2016 through combination of a conservation easement and a new state-owned deer wintering area near Monument Brook.
“The East Grand Lake Watershed Initiative presents a rare opportunity to realize a coordinated conservation vision embracing managed forestlands, wildlife conservation, community economic development and outdoor education,” said Tom Duffus, vice president and Northeast Representative for The Conservation Fund. “It’s exciting to see residents so passionate about their community’s future. At The Conservation Fund, we are committed to finding conservation solutions that also enhance community vitality and health, and this initiative is a shining example of that.”
In addition to its support for East Grand School, The Conservation Fund has also provided resources through their Sewall Foundation grant to the East Grand Health Center to help with strategic business planning that will continue to enhance patient services and plan for future investments to benefit the community.
