Our friends at Quest4Earth wrapped up their spring season last week as they shared with their families a series of multimedia projects that capture what they’ve been learning about birds, habitat restoration, and environmental stewardship.
In his presentation, Therry says: “Making bird feeders, bird houses—that shows a lot of respect for the environment . . . Right now, it’s kind of like the earth is suffering because of what we’re doing to the environment. This program is showing us it doesn’t take one little person—all of us could join and try to help the earth become the way it always should have been.”
Nick’s haiku captures a similar idea some may know from an African story about a hummingbird’s heroic effort to put out a forest fire as other animals look on, frozen into inaction. “I am doing the best I can,” the hummingbird says to the other animals. In her retelling of the story, Wangari Maathai says: “That, to me, is what all of us should do. We should always feel like a hummingbird.”
Payton celebrates another bird in his haiku: “I love the bluebird.” Carla and Ian collaborated on a haiku about recycling and water pollution: “Stop dropping trash!”
And, in their haiku, Therry and Tolu sum up : “Take out the bad stuff, put in the good stuff: That’s restoration.” Other highlights are here.
Quest4Earth is a hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) program developed by the Tiz Media Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization that is dedicated to bringing environmental science awareness and stewardship to students and communities. As Nyel says in her slideshow: “We use different material, we read for information, we build things, we learn from others—and we make beats just like this one!”
The program is part of EvanSTEM, District 65’s collaborative network of in- and out-of-school STEM providers, which seeks to improve access and engagement for students who have traditionally underperformed or been underrepresented in STEM programs. Quest4Earth sessions take place in the Y.O.U. Makerspace at 1911 Church Street. Some of the participants’ displays are in the window.
We are grateful for the partnership and look forward to continuing our collaboration.
— Wendy Pollock
