EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The Evergreen Heritage Center (EHC) Foundation, a public charity, is dedicated to utilizing the Evergreen Heritage Center, an historic Maryland estate adjacent to the Great Allegheny Passage, to provide environmental and experiential learning opportunities for children of all ages and circumstances. The EHC's three major education programs are described below. For a flyer describing these programs and others in development, click here.

Evergreen Environmental Education

This program provides environmental education activities for children and youth ages three to eighteen, based on the proven, award-winning environmental curricula of Project Learning Tree, Project WET, Project WILD, and Wonders of Wetlands (WOW). In addition, Frostburg State University education and Allegany College forest technology majors, who help conduct the activities while supervised by the EHC’s environmental education expert, gain field experience and a valuable credential. The EHC is providing over 1000 environmental education experiences for children and youth in 2011, including a summer and fall program that focuses on the relationship between western watersheds and the Bay, provided in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Constellation Energy, and Chesapeake Bay Trust.

Why are the Foundation and its partners so committed to environmental education? 

  • According to the Maryland Partnership for Children in Nature, environmental education can address critical behavioral and health issues (including childhood obesity, attention deficit disorder, and depression) associated with “nature deficit disorder”; these issues represent a real threat to children since (per a 2010 study by the Kaiser Foundation), children spend an average of 7 1/2 hours/day in front of a television or computer, and less than 4 minutes/day in unstructured outdoor play;
  • According to the National Environmental Education Foundation, supporter of the national No Child Left Inside initiative, the outdoors are also important for children’s overall well-being (e.g. cognitive development and cooperative play) and help serve as a buffer against stress;
  • According to a 2009 report prepared for the state, Maryland has a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) deficit: the state “suffers from a shortage of highly qualified STEM workforce … with approximately 6000 STEM openings a year… and only 4000 STEM graduates”; plus the state is only producing 23% of the STEM teachers it requires;
  • Children need to get excited about learning and staying in school, since according to the National Governors Association, as many as 30 percent of students leave school without a diploma.

Higher Education and Research

This program, offered by the EHC since 2008, provides experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, with the goal of enabling the region’s students to obtain real world experience and credentials for their resumes. The program requires students to create a professional quality work product that can be added to their portfolio or resume. Opportunities span the arts, science, business and education and include projects such as analyzing soil samples, creating botanical illustrations, developing ideas for green business opportunities, and researching native medicinal herbs. To date, the EHC has supported over sixty-five FSU and ACM classes as part of this program.

Evergreen Environmental Wellness

The goal of this program is to provide experiential learning concerning man’s relationship to his surroundings as it affects human wellness. As with the Foundation’s other programs, the Environmental Wellness Program offers hands-on learning opportunities that reinforce the educational experience by providing experiences for children and adults that model and promote a sustainable lifestyle; preserve, protect, and improve the environment; and foster an appreciation of the great outdoors. The program addresses topics such as growing, buying, and cooking produce and herbs; processing and preserving food, healthy eating, water conservation, alternative energy solutions, gardening with native plants, yoga, meditation, and hiking.

For more information on EHC education programs, call 301-687-0664 or email us by clicking here.