Bring on the Support

For

Getting Students Out There

            It has been a long time since I was in Jr. High School. I remember a few things – a seventh grade teacher who read [Treasure Island] to our class, a math teacher that constantly had us measuring, adding, and counting. We used algebra to figure things out long before we were ‘taught’ textbook algebra. I remember our principal who somehow knew that my parents had recently separated. He was a self proclaimed ‘train geek’, and he took several of us on a weekend trip in the fall on The Autumn Leaf Special, a steam engine tour all through the mountains of West Virginia. We worked. We served coffee and sandwiches to the delighted passengers, and we said, “Yes Sir and Yes Ma’am” to everyone older than us. If we didn’t…well, we did. We learned about everything we saw – the mountains and the coal mines and the rivers and the trestles, the steam engine and the business of trains. I rode in the engine and shoveled coal for several hours, blew the whistle at a crossing and chatted with the conductor about his work and the by-gone era of the steam engine. Beyond that I do not remember Jr. High. I don’t know what was taught, and I don’t remember learning anything that I know or use today.

            So, here I am some thirty years later directing the Discovery Program at Locust Grove Middle School. I think schools are better now. I think teachers teach meaningful classes to disciplined and mostly happy students, but I also know that some students need to be able to do things in school beyond the curriculum. This is not rocket science. Showing students something of the world and asking them to participate in meaningful ways is obviously a worthy mission for Discovery. For some students it is vital that they have this kind of experience. The program is not for everyone, nor is it necessary for every student. Our schools provide a myriad of activities for their students - from sports to music programs, teachers take it upon themselves to reach all of our charges. The Discovery Program is but one way to educate students.

The Discovery Program is all about getting students involved. And it works. Our classes read to elementary children every week, they plant trees for our community, they spend weekends camping at the seashore or hiking, and they learn so much. This year they have completed a stream study on the Rapidan River at Hoover Camp with The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, they have learned about beach erosion on barrier islands and estuary systems in the Chesapeake Bay with The National Park Service, they have planted American chestnut and American elm trees with our American Forest Project, and they have hiked the trails that Native Americans traveled all over the mountains. To do all this we require a few things: grades must be kept up, behavior must be exceptional, and students must be willing to work.

The Discovery Program is a two year commitment and in those two years students learn all about themselves - that they can do well in school, that they are working members of a community, that being on a team is a lifelong experience, and that learning is not simply a classroom endeavor. Our program supports the commonwealth’s Standards of Learning in active and meaningful ways. Students learn with their hands on the subjects - they are regularly challenged physically, emotionally, and academically, and the results are outstanding. We have some happy and involved kids.

If you would like to sponsor a Discovery student, help out with the American Forest Project, or donate to our program please contact one of the Discovery Directors.

Sincerely,

Smith Coleman

Discovery Program Director PHMS

Email: scoleman@ocss-va.org

Ben Van Rooy

Discovery Program Director LGMS

Email: broy@ocss-va.org