By Patrick O’Roark
I’d like to take a moment to step back and take a broad view of the Hitchcock Animal Care blog. The original impetus for writing it was that I was setting up our native species freshwater aquarium, which was a lengthy and very visible process. I was getting a lot of questions from both staff and the public who were curious as to how it was coming along and when they could expect to see fish in it. I wanted to be able to give a thorough response that could easily reach a lot of people. A blog that I could refer people to seemed like a great solution.
We are excited to be working with PV Squared to benefit our eco-friendly Hitchcock supporters! There is one week left for you to reach out to PV Squared about going solar through this limited-time promotion to earn $500 for the Hitchcock Center — it ends on May 15th. You can visit their website or call (413) 772-8788 to learn more.
By Ted Watt
Building our new living environmental education center on Hampshire College land brings us even more in-depth opportunities to partner with Hampshire College faculty, students and staff.
We often hear from parents that their children treasure their summers at Hitchcock Center’s Nature Summer Camp. For many, camp is a formative childhood experience. We think all children should have this opportunity.
By Julie Johnson
Convincing today’s wired kids that nature is more exciting than technology is a hard sell. So Hitchcock Center educators have been working to develop ways for children to integrate technology with their experiences in nature.
By Casey Beebe
The Hitchcock Center for the Environment was recently awarded a grant in the amount of $15,000 from the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at UMass Lowell. This grant will support a series of educational programs focused on the toxic materials most commonly used in constructing our homes and places of work, the harmful effects they have on human and environmental health, and alternatives that can lead toward a healthier planet.
By Casey Beebe
On a sunny Saturday in November we held the first of a series of symposiums focused on “hot” water issues. Our Hot Water Issues symposium brought nearly 100 people together to hear three distinct perspectives on water issues: how water conservation can make a difference, what is being detected in our water and the corresponding health effects, and what climate research is telling us about managing our precious water.
By Jeff Mazur and Katie Koerten
The Hitchcock Center is excited to offer our first Nature Summer Camp at our new living building in 2017! Our new center, with three classroom spaces, allows us to add a new age group, the Eco-Investigators. The new group will help us respond to popular demand, allowing more families the opportunity to experience the joy of Hitchcock’s camp, while maintaining a strong and inquisitive learning environment for all of our campers. We will be changing the make up of our age groups as a result of this new addition, to allow for more targeted age related activitiesThe ages of all groups will shift slightly to accommodate this expansion.
On September 13, 2016, after four years of planning, designing, fundraising and building, the Hitchcock Center opened the doors to our new 9,000 square foot “living” building. In just our first week, we welcomed over 400 program participants and visitors through our Monarch Citizen Science, Caterpillar Lab, Nature Play Afterschool, Homeschool, Girls Into the Wild, Phenology, preK-12 Teacher Open House, and Building Tour programs!
By Julie Johnson, Executive Director
Our initial $5.8M goal was ambitious, but thanks to the amazing outpouring of support from our local community, private foundations, and state and federal funding sources, we successfully achieved this fundraising goal! THANK YOU!
With a successfully concluded phase one of our campaign by creating an innovative new environmental learning center to support our expanded program aspirations and to serve as an effective teaching tool publicly demonstrating the principles of ecology and the practice of sustainability.
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Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at Hampshire College
845 West Street | Amherst MA 01002 | 413.256.6006 | 413.253.2809 fax