When was the last time you slapped a wave, kissed a fish, set a crab pot, and crawled through a marsh–all within 72 hours? This fall we resumed a signature program that introduces middle schoolers to the wondrous place to which all our rivers flow. Four Boxerwood educators and 18 youths recently spent 3-days and 2-nights on tiny Smith Island (MD) with environmental educators from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). Prior to the trip 6 of the youths had never been on a boat.
Interrupted only by the pandemic, the Bay Trip has served as a capstone to our local watershed education programs for almost twenty years. Students this year wrote an essay explaining why they wanted to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Representing 7th and 8th grades, they hailed from both Maury River MS and Parry McCluer MS. During the program the youths learned how our headwaters actions impact the health of the Bay and its ecosystems. As part of the experience we’ll meet up again later this year to plant native trees here in Rockbridge, our way of protecting the watershed.
Support for Sept. 24 - 26 trip came from grants Boxerwood secured from the Bay Virginia License Plate Fund, with all the students selected for this trip on partial or full scholarship. Excitingly, these young leaders weren’t the only ones to travel from our area to the Bay islands this fall. More than fifty youths from Lylburn Downing MS participated in a similar CBF trip Oct. 7 - 9: kudos to teachers, parents, and community funders who made our friends’ expedition possible. Thanks to dreamwork and teamwork, our adventures resume!
