Program Sponsorship
Sponsor SECRETS:
SECRETS is a ten-week program for upper elementary classrooms throughout the Gorge. While this program connects kids to their local environment and engages them in hands-on learning and field excursions to local natural areas, it also meets state learning standards in both Oregon and Washington. The local forest ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest or the shrub-steppe ecosystem of the eastern Gorge becomes the living laboratory for students and community members.
The SECRETS program has proven to increase student achievement in science while also providing an outlet for student learning in a hands-on way that does not exist otherwise. Additionally, the SECRETS program has cultivated vibrant community partnerships over the years and will continue to do so. With budget cuts in the schools, it becomes even more essential to find local, sustainable funding from individuals as well as community partners.
Supported by more than two-dozen volunteers throughout the year, this program reaches nearly every 5th grade classroom in a 2000 square mile region. Extremely cost effective, this program breaks down to less than $5 per child, per program.
Sponsor SCIENCE IN ACTION:
Through Science in Action, Gorge Ecology staff coordinates a consortium of middle schools in the Columbia Gorge, three in Oregon and three in Washington. Conservation action teams of students at each school undertake field-based research and restoration projects in partnership with the US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and other local government and non-government organizations.
These projects give students the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge they learn in the classroom to engage in meaningful “real-life” conservation science. Science in Action demands a high level of interaction between students and resource professionals to design and carry out their research and ensure that the research is both informative and useful. Students analyze the data use the most effective means of communicating the results other students throughout the region and to partners on the project.
Science in Action is in need of Bus Transportation for area youth to conduct field research. By sponsoring a field trip for students with a donation of $300 you will be helping to cultivate a connection between kids and the unique nature of the region and the possibility of future careers in the natural sciences. You’ll also be listed as one of our Science in Action sponsors.
