Youth Education
Arbor Day and First Grade Tree Planting
Each year Carrington's first grade class celebrates the city's Arbor Day by planting a tree. They learn the value of trees and watch it grow as they go through their school careers. Each class takes a photo with their tree, and our hope is that they will return for a photo as seniors to see how both they and their tree have grown.
In addition to the group planting in Carrington, first graders at Carrington, Midkota, and Kensal grade schools all receive educational materials and a tree seedling to take home to plant.
Eco Ed
Eco Ed is an environmental learning experience that has been provided for kids in Foster County schools since the program's inception in 1997. Students spend the day at Lake Juanita Park moving between six different stations to learn about rangeland, soils, water quality, wetlands and wildlife, forestry, and agronomy. Each station is taught by a conservation professional and includes a hands-on portion whenever possible.
Project TREES
The TREES program (The Regional Environmental Education Series) consisted of programs designed to emphasize the need to protect and conserve our natural resources presented in classroom settings. The presentations were provided at no or minimal cost to schools. They were sponsored by a local Soil Conservation District and grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, and the North Dakota NPS Pollution Task Force. Currently, the original programs have been replaced by Breakout Box agriculture education programs. If you are a teacher in North Dakota and would like to have any programs presented to your class, please click on the logo to contact our Education Coordinator and get on the list.
Envirothon
The Envirothon is a problem-solving natural resources competition for high school students. Teams consisting of five members in grades 9-12 study in the areas of forestry, soils and land use, aquatic ecology, wildlife, and a current environmental issue. Team members demonstrate proven concepts of hands-on outdoor education combined with the excitement of experiential learning. They are encouraged to develop critical thinking skills to create inventive solutions to complex environmental and natural resource issues. The program helps our schools to nurture environmentally aware students and meet the need for more environmental and natural resource education. Click on the logo for link to the program webpage.
"Keep North Dakota Clean" Poster Contest
Keep North Dakota Clean holds an annual statewide billboard contest for the students in grades 1-12. Students create a poster that reflects their knowledge of waste reduction, recycling, preventing wildfires, creating wildlife habitat, keeping our state and its waters clean, or using our natural resources wisely. Local winners can get a conservation grade tree from the District. First place artwork for the state competition gets turned into a billboard! Click on the logo to go to the program page, and see their Artwork and Media Contest page for information on the current contest.
Summer Reading Program Presentations at Carrington Public Library
Each summer, the SCD brings a presentation to the summer reading program at the public library. Presentations include natural resource and conservation subjects like the soil tunnel, water use, and the water cycle. The programs used are often based on materials from North Dakota Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) and Project Learning Tree.
School Gardening Projects
Foster County SCD provides materials as requested for students at Carrington and Midkota grade schools to start pots of vegetables or plants in the classroom. The SCD has also been a sponsor for the Midkota grade school summer program's vegetable garden and high school greenhouse program.
Conservation Book Donations
The SCD makes annual donations of books to the Carrington and Midkota grade school libraries as well as Carrington Public Library. The books provide the schools' Accelerated Reading programs with materials on the subjects of conservation, natural resources, and agriculture.
If you are thinking one year ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. if you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people. -- Chinese proverb
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. -- Dr. Seuss