Outdoor classroom

By CAITLIN SULLIVAN/Staff

Tiffany Osborne of Glade Spring Middle School held a long cylinder Tuesday at Sugar Hollow Park while Virginia Middle School student Sarah Cox poured a cup of creek water into the test tube.
“I love doing this,” Osborne said.
“The thing is the water looks clear on the surface but it’s really cloudy,” said Cox. “It’s all natural minerals and stuff that makes it look dirty.”
The two were taking part in a free, four-day Virginia Highlands Community College Technology Camp for Bristol, Va., Washington County and Smyth County middle school students. Technology Camp coordinator Shannon Mutter said camp activities, such as learning about robotics, iPod, T-shirt design, CSI, salamander science and nursing, show how integrated technology is in all careers.
“It doesn’t matter what career they pick, they’re going to have to have knowledge of some technology,” she said.
On Tuesday, the Technology Camp partnered with Appalachian Sustainable Development’s Learning Landscape program to teach the students about chemical water testing, macro invertebrate sampling, and the water cycle. They also took a wetlands hike and did reflective writing.
But Learning Landscapes, a program that has been taking Washington County school children out of the classroom and into outdoor projects for nine years may go extinct by the end of the month.
Program manager Lindsey Holderfield said not only are they between grant cycles but applying for grants has become very competitive and private donations have dried up. They need $50,000 to work through December. The staff of three has an annual budget is $125,000 and works with 2,000 students every year.
“What we do gives these kids an opportunity to apply what they’re taught in the classroom,” she said. “It really helps them make connections between different subjects and put it all together so they can use it.”
Learning Landscapes is funded solely through private donations and grants; it does not receive any funding from the towns, county or the school system.
“We’ll go on hiatus if we have to,” she said. “We’re not giving up on this program; we’re not giving up on the kids so the staff will volunteer to keep this program going and dedicate all our time to fundraising. The kids are waiting for us to come back and help harvest the gardens they planted in the spring.”
Mutter is also a Wallace Middle School teacher and her class raised trout last year in Learning Landscape’s trout release program.
“They need to get them outside and get their hands dirty,” she said.
Holderfield is dedicated to keep making it happen.
“We believe the salvation of the program will come from the community,” she said.
For more information on Learning Landscapes visit www.asdevelop.org/learninglandscapes.