The Nature Center at Highland Elementary has been seeing greater usage this fall due to increased recess times and mask breaks for the students. Principal Chris Trostad said it’s good for the kids to be using the Nature Center again with a cleanup scheduled for Saturday, September 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. “Back in the day there was a real belief that learning outdoors is as important as learning indoors,” said Trostad. “The Nature Center was a really important place to be. With the COVID virus and teachers taking students out for recess and mask breaks it’s been a good thing to get kids to use our Nature Center more.”
The Nature Center features a number of unique features someone walking by wouldn’t know is there explained Trostad. “There are ponds and bridges, specific things planted, and I’m not the expert on that,” said Trostad. “I know the first year I was here we burned off the prairie grass and the next year it grew up extremely tall and overgrew anything. The things with the deepest roots tend to come back the strongest. It probably needs to happen again, but we’d like to get it cleaned up for the kids this fall. Kids have been going out there every hour.”
With limited usage the past few years, the Nature Center has become overgrown in some spots, so a cleanup effort will take place Saturday. “It’s been overgrown with the trails,” said Trostad. “We have trees and brush that have grown up. Andrea Ingersoll has spearheaded a group this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with chainsaws, weed eaters, to clean up the trails and pickup the brush. A lot of time kids would go sit out there and read in a nice spot in Nature Center for 30 minutes. It’ll be nice to get that put back together. The teachers are using it pretty extensively now that they’re taking kids out a lot. As bad as COVID is, there have been positives out of it, and one where our kids have spent a lot of time in the nature center.”
Trostad said students can also use the school’s snowshoes in the Nature Center during the winter. “We have a set of snowshoes that the kids will use to go snowshoeing back in there during the winter too,” said Trostad. “It’s just fun to see it being used and we’d like to get it cleaned up. The kids have really enjoyed being out there but it’s overgrown and needs to be cleaned. So, anybody that’s willing to help, come on out and we’d gladly accept your help this Saturday from 9-11 a.m.”
Volunteers to help with the cleanup are asked to bring weed whackers, hedge trimmers, yard bags, chainsaw, work gloves, and other equipment to help shape the Nature Center.
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