Education Coordinator Update

by Elena Santos, Education Coordinator

Since joining the team at Merck, I have started working on some projects that I am excited to share with readers:

• I joined Education Manager Cara Davenport at Mettawee Community School (MCS) for several of the Field and Forest Friday JISP-alternative program days. On the days I joined Cara, we took the participating group of K-4th graders outdoors and taught them about animal tracking, owls, and maple sugaring.

• I have been developing a framework for a new fund that Merck Forest is offering to K-6 classes at MCS. It is designed to encourage and support student-driven projects that have an ecological focus and that are carried out on the Merck satellite campus at MCS. The framework includes a required proposal writing stage, as well as a requirement for funded projects to keep Merck Forest updated on progress. Stay tuned for project insights!

• I am currently working on identifying funding sources and analyzing data to enhance educational program offerings.

• I will be working with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) program from May-June.

• I’ll be around during the summer for Meet and Feed days, guided hikes, doing roving interpretation, and surveying visitors to collect their feedback.