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04.25.2019 | To Bee or Not to Bee
Garden Lecture: A panel all about bees!
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04.2019 | The future belongs to the nature-smart
K Y L E H O L T O N
As Edgerton's new Education Coordinator, Kyle Holton runs the Garden Lecture Series and the School Outreach Program, which annually brings hundreds of local children to Edgerton Park to learn from volunteer educators.
Years ago, I moved with my family to northern Mozambique, where we lived in a remote village full of beautiful people and only a few scoundrels. Like many small, rural communities, people made do with what they had. We were part of an indigenous organization developing curricula to educate kids on a range of topics. I distinctly remember a moment that had a profound impact on me:
I visited the home of a young student who had graduated from the class on malaria prevention, and I listened to her teach her parents and friends, using her intimate understanding of the natural world, of which mosquitoes are part. Everyone listened, asked questions, and treated her as an authority, recognizing the experience and knowledge she had received. The young student had become a young professor.
For years, the Edgerton Park Conservancy has provided similar opportunities for the youth in our community. Thanks to our volunteer educators, students from New Haven schools experience the park’s historic greenhouses and natural surroundings.
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I am deeply impressed with Edgerton’s education program. For many of the kids who visit the park, nature is a foreign entity, and our volunteers get to introduce them to the wonderful world of bugs, soil, plants, and chickens. Each leaf, each plant, each upturned stone is an adventure in waiting.
But more importantly, helping kids connect to nature helps them connect more fully with themselves. The research is solid. Helping kids spend time connecting to nature provides them with a wide range of health benefits and enhances educational outcomes.
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“The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.”
— Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods
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Kids who visit Edgerton’s grounds and greenhouses get a dose of nature. They dirty their fingers with potting soil, touch the sharp edges of cactus spines, hear the bird calls and squirrel chatter, and feel the soft peck of a chicken feeding from their hands. They experience the greenhouse effect and the importance of rainforests. And they ask thousands of questions.
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These kids learn fast. They leave the park energized with new knowledge and a deeper connection to the world around them. Don’t you think these kids are powerful professors in their own families and social circles?
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We are working to expand the curriculum and our yearly number of visits, and we extend our invitation to surrounding communities. Please tell your friends, family, and teachers about Edgerton’s education program!
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“Nature seems to be a critical nutrient for the well-being of the human being.”
— Jon Young
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04.2019 | News from Edgerton
This has been an exciting year of transitions and growth. We hope you've attended our renewed garden lecture series and other special events! Your all-volunteer board has been working hard to make these things happen!
- We recently completed a Strategic Plan to guide our work.
- We will develop a Landscape Framework Plan to restore, steward, and enhance the grounds.
- We are creating collaborations with local organizations, including the New Haven Garden Club, New Haven Land Trust, and Yale F&ES
- We are redesigning the website!
Following December's devastating theft of all the copper flashing protecting the North Wall, we are grateful to the New Haven Parks Dept. for plans to replace the flashing this spring.
You may know the adage, “We drink from wells we never dug.” The same is true of Edgerton! We now enjoy the shade of stately trees, grown from saplings we never planted. And just as the Brewsters provided for future generations, with your help, we can continue these transformations!
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Thurs April 25, 7pm > EPC Lecture Series: To Bee or Not to Bee (details above)
April 28 > Come visit our table at the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Festival!
May 1-2 > The Great Give
May 11 > Yale Day of Service (all volunteers welcome!)
June 25 > Edgerton Park Conservancy Annual Meeting
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Edgerton Park is part of the New Haven Parks Department. Care for its buildings, trees, and gardens, and our educational programs, are made possible by the members of the Edgerton Park Conservancy, a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to this wonderful public park. Join today!
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Have a friend who should be receiving Edgerton Park News? Encourage them sign up for EPC emails to receive regular updates about lectures, outdoor events, and more!
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