By Jessica Schultz
The Hitchcock Center has partnered with Mount Holyoke College to provide core science curriculum training for Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) pre-service teachers. The program, taught by Education Director Colleen Kelley, has run for 5 weeks at the Hitchcock Center this fall.
The Elizabeth Farnsworth Native Fern Garden and Fern Cobble were unveiled and dedicated at the Hitchcock Center on August 8, 2019 by a cohort of Elizabeth’s long-time friends and colleagues. The garden and cobble nearly 30 of the 58 native ferns species in New England, tucked along the shady northern edge of the Center’s pathway to the Den Play area and trails beyond.
Hitchcock Center’s Living Building Coordinator Jessica Schultz and architect Sam Batchelor of designLAB architects were featured on the Build Better podcast. In this segment, Jessica and Sam talk about what it means to build a Living Building, how the building can be design to be a teaching tool, and how we use the building to promote environmental and social change.
By Katie Koerten and Peter Lamdin
The Hitchcock Center’s Leadership Training Camp (LTC) just had its sixth summer. Created in 2014, its mission is to grow leadership skills in an immersive outdoor setting. The result has been six years of campers who are increasingly comfortable taking risks in the outdoors and providing their peers with constructive leadership feedback. One of Hitchcock’s most popular summer camp programs, LTC feels like it gets better each year. Much of its strength and success comes from the campers themselves.
Hello and welcome to Nature Summer Camp 2019! We are incredibly excited for our third Nature Summer Camp at the new Hitchcock Center. The counselors, Katie and I have been […]
On May 7th, the Hitchcock Center received the Certified Living Award for achieving the Living Building Challenge 2.1 (LBC) for it’s new headquarters! Executive Director, Julie Johnson received the award in person at the Living Future UnConference in Seattle, WA, the annual regenerative design conference organized by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). The certification award, considered the most prestigious level of sustainable design and operation in the world, represents the successful completion of the Center’s new building. It is only the 23rd building in the world to achieve this goal, and the 4th in Massachusetts.
By Jeff Mazur
In mid-March they learned about the Spotted Salamanders and their migration and mating habits from Environmental Educator Ted Watt and Homeschool Instructor Jeff Mazur. The group also ventured to the tunnels to do the annual required clean up. They raked out the tunnels with an extendable hoe made of rebar. They removed leaves and debris from the fencing, which is designed to direct the salamanders to the tunnels. And they did a general clean up of the area, removing multiple garbage bags worth of trash.
By Saraphina Forman
I think I’ve always believed that it is everyone’s responsibility to protect the world around them and protect the future — you can’t sit by passively and expect things to be solved.
By Stephanie Kuplast
I was honestly fed up with inaction by adults. Our elected officials have largely refused to recognize the climate crisis, and when some do choose to acknowledge climate change, they often do so with a comfortable, though inaccurate timeframe. A lot of scientists, teachers and otherwise well-meaning adults encourage me to study this stuff in college, and hopefully I could bring about change in my future career. I don’t have the time to do that. We need systemic change now in order to stop the kids who are scared to death of climate change.
By James Aas, Sydney Mager, and Salim Saulsberry
I think the leadership camp goes over and teaches many great skills but it’s how they execute teaching these skills that’s one of the best parts about the camp.
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