Students make presentation

Three fifth grade students from John R. Briggs Elementary School in Ashburnham traveled to Boston in February to make a presentation about their school's environmental education program to members of the state Secretary's Advisory Group for Environmental Education (SAGEE).

Erin Leamy, Amanda Wood, and Courtney Mercier were participants in the EIC Model™ program that has been implemented as part of the curriculum at Briggs Elementary for the past five years. The Briggs program has won numerous awards for excellence in environmental education.

The environmental education program at Briggs is a partnership project between Briggs Elementary and the Nashua River Watershed Association. This EIC Model™ program is a place-based education model that integrates interdisciplinary learning, community involvement, service learning, and several other elements that create an excitement for learning among students. Hands-on, outdoor environmental science lessons are woven together with local history, practical math, and language arts. This presentation in Boston, photographed and written by the students as a service project, reinforces part of the Model that encourages students to become the teachers.

The environmental education partnership between Briggs Elementary and the Nashua River Watershed Association is funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET).

For more information about Nashua River Watershed Association place-based environmental education programs for schools and youth groups, please contact Mary Marro, NRWA Environmental Education Director, at (978) 448-0299.