Autumn is knocking, summer vacations are in the rearview mirror and we are preparing for the school year ahead and our Neighborhood Environmental Education Project (NEEP) for schools. While students are thinking about homework and teachers are creating lesson plans, we are in full-gear preparing for tons of outdoor experiences, nature play and educational fun!

Excitement for new connections

NEEP is a partnership program. We partner with schools within a 2-mile radius of our branches to provide multiple field trips per year. Students have multiple trips, sometimes for multiple years, to learn in and connect to the land in the green spaces we use as “outdoor classrooms.” In addition, our Educators work closely with teachers to ensure that our programming fits seamlessly into their curriculum.

Studies have shown that a child needs two things to inspire environmental awareness: constant contact with nature early in life and an adult mentor (parent, teacher, friend) who demonstrates positive behavior toward the environment. Our Environmental Educators are excited to get to know their students and teach them throughout the school year.

Your support helps the Urban Ecology Center’s Green Career Pipeline program develop urban leaders with the commitment and the capability to move our community towards a more sustainable future.

Our Green Career Pipeline program starts with school field trips and our Young Scientist Club after-school program, then leads to our High School Outdoor Leader program, which provides two years of job training and paid positions throughout the UEC. Afterwards, students can continue along the path with our paid summer intern programs.

This pathway prepares young people for future employment at organizations with an environmental focus, or even here at the UEC!

There’s a certain allure to farming that resonates with almost everyone. It’s very hard work, but your daily connection to the land is powerful. As an environmental educator at the Urban Ecology Center I consider myself a farmer of connections.

From birth, children are developing their connection with the wider world and the many experiences in nature make up the threads that are woven throughout our entire lives.

Collaborating with Menomonee Valley Partners, our branch is the hub of natural restoration and community. Some highlights include partnering with 19 schools, over 50 afterschool programs and 18 Summer Camps.

In mid-January, during those grand days of winter when we actually had snow on the ground, I learned the value of taking chances through the determination of an 8th grade girl.

It was a chilly day, but I had discovered the previous week that students cannot wait to be outside, even on the coldest of days.

One student caught my attention as we walked out to the bus. She told me that it was her first trip to the Urban Ecology Center, her first winter in Wisconsin, and how excited she was for her first opportunity to explore snow. Little did she know, her class was about to go cross-country skiing.

Environmental education is at the core of our mission. The main way we accomplish this during the school year is our Neighborhood Environmental Education Project (NEEP). Through NEEP our partner schools send students to our branches for hands on science and environmental lessons.

We’re educating the next generation of environmental leaders. Plus, they have so much fun they don’t realize how much they’re learning!

A few weeks ago, I was pulling together some attendance numbers for a report. I sent them over to Jen Hense, our Director of Development, and she sent me back an email that said, "Safe to assume all of these numbers were 'zero' four years ago, huh? :-)" She's right – 4 years ago there literally were zero kids playing in Three Bridges Park because there WAS NO Three Bridges Park!

Mary (not her real name) was excited. She could smell the earthiness and hear the wind rustling the trees that told her that today’s lesson was going to be outdoors. She bounced slightly from foot to foot as her favorite Urban Ecology Center educator, Ms. Regina, described the day’s activities.

“Can I run now?” Mary asked her teacher from school.

“Yes, go for it!” her teacher replied. Smiling, Mary ran across the field, exhilarated by the fresh air and the ground pounding beneath her feet.

Sometimes making the impossible possible just takes a little confidence and ingenuity. Just ask the class of students with visual impairments who spent time exploring Riverside Park and the lakefront with Urban Ecology Center Educators Matt Flower and Regina Miller.

While learning about nature and the environment, all of the students who participate in the Urban Ecology Center's school programs are expected to participate in every way regardless of ability. It's the Center's mission to connect people to nature in part because of the fresh perspective getting outside can provide. In the case of these students, they knew deep down that "Mr. Flower and Ms. Regina" believed that they could do anything and should try everything.

This time of year always gets me thinking about gratitude (I probably say that every November). This year, I want to share a story that perfectly captured for me why I’m so grateful to be a part of this work, and why I’m grateful for the support of so many people that make this work possible.

Last spring, I had the opportunity to teach a 3rd grade Neighborhood Environmental Education Project class at our Menomonee Valley branch. It was a glorious late spring day—sunny with just that faintest taste of summer coming around the corner.