Spring is a short, intense program season at Boxerwood. Unlike the longer, more leisurely and docile fall, spring is a sprint, a leap, and a dodge. Sleet, heat, frost, thunder, rainstorms, and SOL testing – we tackle it all. During this year’s 10-week semi-covidy spring season, we’re on track for providing 78 outdoor programs for more than 1,100 children. What’s our secret?
First off, there’s community support. We rely on school partners, donors, and volunteers to help connect young people to the natural world. This vital support has increased during the pandemic which in turn has enabled us to hire additional part-time seasonal educators, an exciting development.
These skilled colleagues are enabling Boxerwood to do more programs in more places, simultaneously. One day recently, for example, we welcomed four different elementary classrooms to Boxerwood: three came by bus and one came by foot (Waddell). While Jess Sullivan and team provided water exploration programs for first one kindergarten class from Central and then another, Hannah West and team helped second graders from Natural Bridge explore frogs, turtles, and pollinators during both morning and afternoon programs. That’s an intense use of Boxerwood teaching spaces and places–and restrooms.
To keep everything running smoothly Boxerwood educators meet-up most mornings to share their paths and plans. “It’s definitely a dance” says Jess, “but we make it happen. Special shout-out to the turtles and frogs who welcome us again and again and to their wetland habitats.” Two separate outdoor pavilions, timely restroom choreography, plus additional volunteer instructors and chaperones also play vital roles in each day’s production.
And that’s the story (and joy) of Boxerwood’s spring 2022 circus.
