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Located on a 1,500-acre preserve two miles north of Matanzas, students in the program use what they learn in the classroom to give tours to visitors and school groups about the land's history, trails or ecosystems. Free tours were given on April 27 to commemorate Earth Day by "showing the public what's in their own backyard and why they should care," [Hala Laquidara] said.
"We want to show the public the diversity of the Princess Place Preserve," she said. "The county doesn't have enough money to do inventory ... but they don't know what they're preserving, so we felt that we act as a steward of the land since the park houses us."
"The kids have been amazing," said [Patricia Reonas], adding that she tries to guide the students to think about things like placing the trees in places that won't obstruct views. "Originally the irrigation lines had been cut, there were weed-eaters; ... (but) now the trees are back up to being healthy."
PALM COAST --
Community service-focused classes funded by grants allow students to break new ground and learn about things like Earth Day.
Students in the landscape and turf science class at Flagler Palm Coast High School chose three trees from the school's on-campus tree farm -- supported by a nearly $1,200 Flagler County Education Foundation grant -- to plant on an empty plot of land in the gym parking lot. And students enrolled in Matanzas High School's Princess Place Legacy Program, funded by a $47,500 grant from State Farm Insurance, led free tours of the preserve where classes are held to commemorate the environmental awareness day April 22.
"Planting these trees is a way to give back to the Earth," FPC junior Travis Taylor said after patting dirt around the base of a newly planted eastern redbud sapling.
To help educate the 12 boys in her class, including Taylor, teacher Patricia Reonas shared a video about the history of Earth Day on YouTube with them.
"I wanted them to be conscious of the holiday," said Reonas, who has taught service-learning classes, which combine classroom instruction with community service, at FPC for 15 years.
The Princess Place Program offers an alternative form of education for about 25 students who were struggling at Matanzas High School and also uses the "service-learning" concept, according to program coordinator Hala Laquidara.
Located on a 1,500-acre preserve two miles north of Matanzas, students in the program use what they learn in the classroom to give tours to visitors and school groups about the land's history, trails or ecosystems. Free tours were given on April 27 to commemorate Earth Day by "showing the public what's in their own backyard and why they should care," Laquidara said.
Students are usually recommended for the program by either a teacher or school guidance counselor who notices a drop in attendance or grade-point average. While participants are required to take the same courses and assessments as students at traditional public high schools, the service-learning component "gives knowledge context," Laquidara said.
"Everything we do is incorporated into our curriculum, whether it's a salt marsh tour, eagle nest tour -- whatever class we're in we take that knowledge and information ... and then we turn it into something we can educate the public about," she said.
Both the FPC tree farm, which is on the right side of the school and has over 100 trees native to Florida, including sweetgum, red cedar and live oak, and the Princess Place Program likely would have rotted if teachers hadn't applied for more grant money.
The $47,500 grant from State Farm Insurance enabled school officials to reopen the Princess Place Program, which was closed at the beginning of the school year due to a lack of funding, according to Laquidara, who filled out the grant application.
Specifically, the grant money is being used to attempt identification and documentation of all the biological species living on the preserve in order to share that information with the community through events like the Earth Day celebration, Laquidara said.
"We want to show the public the diversity of the Princess Place Preserve," she said. "The county doesn't have enough money to do inventory ... but they don't know what they're preserving, so we felt that we act as a steward of the land since the park houses us."
The grant that FPC received from the Flagler County Education Foundation for nearly $1,200 was used to recover the tree farm that was in "horrible shape" when Reonas's class took over, she said.
"The kids have been amazing," said Reonas, adding that she tries to guide the students to think about things like placing the trees in places that won't obstruct views. "Originally the irrigation lines had been cut, there were weed-eaters; ... (but) now the trees are back up to being healthy."
In addition to being used to raise awareness about Earth Day, trees from FPC's tree farm have also been used to enhance the Matanzas campus.
Credit: Natalie Kornicks [email protected]
Copyright Halifax Media Group May 03, 2014