Annual Meeting & Membership Celebration 2018
A Showcase for KELT’s Education Program
Sharing Knowledge, Stoking Curiosity, Building Confidence, and Creating Sense of Place
Join KELT’s board of directors, members, and friends to reflect on the land trust’s annual achievements and discover more about KELT’s successful Education Program that connects with 1,000+ school students each year.
The event will kick off with a Student Expo, a showcase for local students and teachers from Bath, West Bath, Woolwich, and Georgetown to share estuary-inspired projects supported by KELT.
Following the Expo will be the annual business meeting, an opportunity to learn more about the land trust’s work and lands conserved in 2017.
The evening will close with presentations by KELT’s Program Director and local educators about how and why the land trust created successful educational collaborations with local schools.
Attendees will be able to enjoy hearty appetizers and a wine and beer tasting by Now You’re Cooking, Mariner Beverages, and Henry and Marty Restaurant & Catering.
The evening will also feature a raffle. Items included are Fairwinds Farm popcorn and new air popper, an attractive regional conserved lands map, and a family birding kit.
From modest beginnings, KELT now boasts a full menu of education programming that serves students in pre-kindergarten through high school.
The Expo will highlight some examples of these education programs: 1st graders sharing a biomimicry project, 3rd graders talking about Maine owls, middle school students sharing their invasive crab research, and a high school student sharing her experience growing local food. These are all programs where KELT staff worked with local teachers to find ways the land trust could help to enrich student learning. This enrichment takes the form of classroom programs, on-the-ground outdoor field trip support, connecting teachers with fellow nature experts and organizations, and assistance with behind-the-scenes program planning and outdoor education guidance.
KELT’s education program started in 2010. While land conservation will always be the very core of KELT’s work, the land trust’s Board of Directors directed staff support toward education in recognition that today’s youth do not spend as much time outside as children in the past. This disconnection from nature, coined ‘nature-deficit disorder’ by author Richard Louv in his book Last Child of the Woods, means that today’s youth do not necessarily have the chance to learn about the importance of the Kennebec Estuary ecosystem through hands-on experiences. KELT’s education programs allow students to learn about and personally connect to their local woods, shorelines, rivers, wetlands, farm fields, and mudflats.
The presentation will also highlight the leadership role KELT now has in supporting local nature-based education in Maine. KELT is involved in initiatives that bring together a wide variety of partners to energize how Maine provides education about and access to nature for students. KELT is proud that our youth-education path, which started with getting more local students out into the Kennebec Estuary, has now brought the land trust to be a voice in thinking about environmental education statewide.
Click HERE to review the Draft Minutes from the 2017 Membership Gathering and Annual Meeting
*Coming soon!* Click HERE to view KELT’s 2017 Annual Report
Questions? Contact Becky at bkolak@kennebecestuary.org or 207-442-8400. The Maine Maritime Museum is located at 243 Washington Street in Bath.
