nothin “Solo Sits” Connect Students To Nature | New Haven Independent

Solo Sits” Connect Students To Nature

Allison Park photo

With a steady hand and careful precision, Christian Garcia shaded in a sketch of New Haven’s eastern coastal landscape during an afternoon at the scenic Long Wharf Nature Reserve.

Garcia, a sophomore at The Sound School, has been participating in an after-school program to promote environmental education that is wrapping up a test-flight semester.

It’s cool and very fun,” Garcia said. If you ask the ninth graders, they really like it.”

The Sound School distinguishes itself from a traditional public high school, with a vocational focus on aquaculture allowing students to engage with academics from a hands-on, creative approach.

Launched just a few months ago, the after-school program is run jointly by Sound School and New Haven Land Trust. This program features interactive activities for students that incorporates traditional curriculum-oriented academics with environmental science education. It aims to connect students with the ground they live on. Like the environmental gem — the nature preserve and harbor — on Long Wharf.

Our view is that we need to invest more in young people in order to have a more long-term impact,” said Land Trust Executive Director Justin Elicker.

Preserve Coordinator Cori Merchant dispersed the students around the reserve during Wednesday afternoon’s session and instructed them to engage in a solo sit” — an individual practice where students engage all their senses in absorbing and documenting their surroundings.

Niiah Hunt, another Sound School sophomore, found a creative resting spot on a washed up branch for her solo sit, sketching the reserve from her seaside vantage point.

Students embraced their artistic sides during their mindful documentation practice, with assignments ranging from sketches to poem writing.

Following Garcia’s lead, Hunt sharpened her pencil and began sketching her surroundings with well-practiced artist’s hand — the lagoon detailed with ridged waves, distant buildings shaded with charcoal strokes, the tall grass depicted with whispy, brush-like flicks.

Ricky Padro, a math teacher at the Sound School, complemented Merchant’s artistic lesson with his own mathematical exercise — exponential functions with a creative twist.

With a determined look on their faces and a graphing calculator in hand, Algebra I students, Richard Filo and Victor Aldaz, set off on their after-school journey as intrepid Monk Parakeet hunters.

In his unconventional yet practical algebra lesson, Padro taught the concept of exponential functions through Monk Parakeet population growth and decay in New Haven over the years since the 1960s.

[It’s] a balancing act,” Padro said. He makes sure to cover content and fluencies [students] need with graphing calculators,” but also makes an effort to appeal to students with a teaching method that’s both hands-on and fun.”

Our goal has been to have kids have fun outside while learning something, and I think we’ve been successful at that,” Elicker said when asked to reflect on the inaugural semester of the program.

Looking ahead, Merchant said he hopes for more students to help grow the Schooner after-school program and create different activities, and is optimistic for the program’s capacity to continue building a positive reputation in the region.

The Schooner after-school program is scheduled to continue in the fall semester for another 15 sessions.

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