OSFR’s mission of education has found an outlet in the excellent Fort White school program “PARKnership,” administered by Trini Johannsen, Valerie Thomas and Loye Barnard. These three ladies attended the OSFR board meeting on December 16, 2015, to explain the program to those in attendance.
This is a very active program which in the past year has conducted 28 Outdoor Hands-On Labs at Ichetucknee Springs State Park, in which students participate in water and soil testing, and dendrochronology tests performed by the students themselves. Tours are also taken to wastewater treatment plants, and the Alliance Diary in Trenton, the only Florida dairy which uses a digester to transform cow manure into power.
The program involves Fort White elementary students, middle school and High School Environmental Science students. In March of 2014, over 200 students participated in or attended the Ichetucknee Springs State Park Environmental Showcase.
Our thanks go to Mses. Johannsen, Thomas and Barnard for their work in this admirable cause, and to OSFR policy director Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson, who helped facilitate OSFR’s role as one of the sponsors of the fine PARKnership program.
