ab c d e fg Superstars in Education
from left: Jordan Walker, teacher Pamela Vanderwende, Rachel Retzlaff, Bridgett Durham, Jebidiah Chung and Cheyanne Durham take a moment to pose for the camera outside of Phillis Wheatley Middle School while working for the Conservation Club. Photo by Janine Sorbello
Reco g ni z in g E x ce l l ence in E duc ation
Learning From Nature By April Hall
T
he grounds at Phillis Wheatley Middle School weren’t much more than wire grass and weeds just a few years ago, but one teacher saw its potential. Set back from the road, the school has a wealth of open space, nooks and crannies that with the proper attention, can be a classroom all on its own. “I am a science teacher and one of the things I teach is ecosystems and the curriculum deals with watersheds, bays and wetlands,” says Pamela Vanderwende. “I’m very interested in the environment and I think that interest sparked the decision to come up with some kind of environmental club.” The Conservation Club formed four years ago with a few teachers and parents and 20 students. By the end of that first year, membership increased to 35 and now the club boasts 100 members. Conservation Club seems to have encouraged students to not just be conscious of their environmental impact outdoors, but also inside the school. “There have been several cases where students in fifth grade had a negative attitude about school in general,” Vanderwende
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says. “But now they ask me on a daily basis about upcoming meetings. It’s an incentive to come to school. They feel like they were doing something good for the environment and as a result feel valued.” As a testament to the impact the club has academically, the school was honored for having the best sixth-grade science program in the state for the 2008-2009 school year. Delaware Student Testing Program scores have also been impacted. In 2009, the school ranked first in the state in science with a score of 86 percent meeting the standard. A member for three years, seventh grader Jedidiah Chung says the Conservation Club has cultivated a new interest in science. He has worked on every project since he’s joined, starting with the wetlands. The storm retention pond on school grounds was the club’s first project. The Conservation Club adopted it as a wetlands site and soon students were getting involved in revitalizing the pond that was rundown and mired by litter. Ducks soon nested in the pond (the club named the mother
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