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parks as classrooms
36,000 young minds touched by the Blue Ridge
Parkway.
Parks As Classrooms
is one of the flagship programs funded by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.
The Foundation has provided $466,000 in support of this program through
September 2007.
The
major goals of the program are:
•
To promote the parks as learning laboratories to develop greater awareness,
understanding, appreciation, and commitment to the preservation and/or
restoration of the National Park System and larger environment on which
it depends;
•
To promote an improved education system in this country by assisting teachers
in the development of more interactive lessons that incorporate park resources;
and
•
To integrate research and interpretive programs of the park service into
the broader educational goals of communities and schools as partnerships.
This curriculum
based program which is designed to instill values of Parkway protection
and preservation satisfies the national standards of learning in all 29
Virginia and North Carolina Parkway counties where the program is presented.
Charles Wray, a National Park
Service ranger presenting programs in the Roanoke Valley, says "that this
program opens a new world to them (children); they don't even know what
a national park is." Dan Brown, the Blue Ridge Parkway's superintendent
sees the program as one of the best investments that can be made in the
future of the Blue Ridge Parkway. "The children of our visitor and
community families are the future stewards of this great national treasure.
"
Parks As Classrooms
is not just another environmental education program. There is always
the contained message of major Parkway issues: threatened views, air pollution,
and exotic plant proliferation.
But one side of the equation
is still missing, and that is the return visit of the classroom for the
most powerful learning component - the experiential occurrence of actually
being on the Parkway to see and hear the message. "Currently, funding
is not available to provide the extended services of having our seasonal
rangers present during the late spring and early fall months when classrooms
can visit," explains Patty Lockamy, the Parkway's chief of interpretation.
"Other challenges are the unavailability of covered facilities and available
restrooms when classrooms do come to visit; Parkway visits are often susceptible
to inclement weather."
A budget of $180,000 is needed
annually to support such a program. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
will be undertaking its first capital/endowment campaign to fund this
program for perpetuity. Dr. Houck Medford, the Foundation's executive
director emphasizes "one of the great benefits of this program is that
Parks As Classrooms is park wide (Charlottesville,
Virginia to Cherokee, North Carolina) and will have appeal and benefit
for every community on the Blue Ridge Parkway."
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