New Fall Programming Opportunities: Staying

Nimble and Filling the Gaps

by Cara Davenport, Program Coordinator

With the upheaval of this fall school year, our typical busy season of welcoming regional 5th and 6th grade classes up to Merck for our multi-day Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) program has been put on hold. As our Program team considered the new lay-of-the-land for programming in the coming months, one opportunity that became clear was the mid-week break that many schools in our region have decided to incorporate into the revamped school schedules as many students begin to return to in-person classes. With schools closed most Wednesdays for the next several months, we developed and launched our new weekly Wilderness Wednesdays program, a day-long camp for a cohort of up to ten 4th-6th graders that will meet at Merck Forest for four Wednesdays in a row. Based out of many of the activities and concepts that we use in the NGSS program, this program will involve the students spending their Wednesdays with us exploring the Merck Forest landscape, practicing their observational skills and developing as citizen scientists primarily through nature journaling.

In preparation for this new program, in mid-September our staff spent a beautiful crisp autumn day together making some additions and improvements to the yurt and base-camp space that we use for many of our kids’ programs, including day camps and NGSS programs. In addition to general touch-ups and preparation to the yurt and deck, a meeting space behind the yurt was widened and defined so that students can comfortably and safely sit at least 6 feet apart from each other on log round seats. Our Conservation Manager Tim Duclos also created six beautiful benches out of birch logs that had been felled nearby during one of this season’s Game of Logging trainings. Another project for the day was the extension of the VYCC trail (a fantastic little trail built by the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps in 2018, which heads into the woods just to the left of the Discovery Trail entrance and leads down to the yurt); if you wander down the VYCC trail this fall or winter, look for the new section of trail that begins after you intersect with the Discovery Trail.

The very next day we inaugurated our improved spaces with an enthusiastic crew of students in our first Wilderness Wednesday, taking the trail down to the base camp and circling up behind the yurt before sitting down on the log seats. Since the program’s beginning on September 23rd, we’ve had a great time learning, exploring, and documenting in the woods, at the farm, and at Page Pond.

Another area of opportunity during this school year has been the continued efforts to step into the utilization of Merck Forest’s “Satellite Campus” property behind the Mettawee Community School. Just before the first students returned to classes this fall, some of our staff spent time planning and clearing an access trail that would give teachers and their classes a timely, easy and exciting way to get from the school yard out onto the property for outdoor learning during the school day. With increased pressures on teachers and classrooms, our hope is that having a quick way to access a spacious natural learning environment will both relieve some of that pressure and be a gateway for more kids to spend more time outside.

This is a season that demands increased adaptability from all of us in many ways, which can be both exhausting and rewarding. It calls for creativity and cooperation, patience and compassion for ourselves and those around us. As the fall education season continues to evolve, our Program team is continually adjusting to do our best to understand and support the needs in our neighborhood. As we do this, we’re grateful to and inspired by OUR neighbors, near and far, who continue to engage and persevere in a myriad of creative, compassionate and cooperative efforts.