‘Tis the Season of the Students
by NikiAnne Feinberg
Several weekends in a row this past April, we had the pleasure of hosting college groups from the College of Charleston, Furman University, and Elon University.
We dig bamboo, but how many shoots can we eat?! Bamboo needs maintenance to keep it from overextending its boundaries. Here, students help remove bamboo sprouts from a former mini-grove. The voracious grass was coming too close to home and residents chose to remove it.
Earthaven’s Group Educational Tours (GET) program offers tours and experiential learning opportunities for student groups year round. Service-learning programs are increasingly popular and have become a hugely successful complement to traditional academic learning environments. Hands-on learning allows participants to create an authentic connection with their world and embody academic lessons more fully, while enhancing critical thinking and teamwork skills.
Students from Elon University help Johannah Femling start a layered “lasagne garden” at the Forest Garden Learning Center. Their Philosophy prof, Anthony Weston, also worked on the site but was out of camera shot.
We view education as primarily a social learning activity. The process of immersion into an active, living culture of sustainability solutions, critical thinking, and systems orientation makes for not only an integrated, holistic approach to education but a rare opportunity to see experiments in action. Please inquire about how your group can get a taste of the integrated life through Earthaven’s GET program.
Students from Furman University in South Carolina and Wes Dripps (center), Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, helped members build a stairway up the grassy slope to their home.
NikiAnne Feinberg has over a decade of experience with experiential, nature-based programs in both the non-profit and academic sectors. SOIL is the manifestation and culmination of her life experiences in sustainable living, experiential-education leadership, and program management.