Throughout the year, our Learning and Engagement team has collaborated with a handful of organizations to give back to the community. Some of those include Ohio Valley Educational Service Center (OVESC), Newark Townhomes, the Yellow Bus Series Show and The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology’s “Girls Steam Ahead” program. All of which aid in offering educational activities or events to the next generation.
The OVESC includes even school districts that aren’t included in Licking County allowing for even more reach. Those schools include Belpre City Schools, Crooksville Exempted Village, Fort Frye Local, Frontier Local, Marietta City, Morgan Local, Switzerland of Ohio Local, Warren Local and Wolf Creek Local. When working with OVESC, our spring & winter camp boxes are compiled by Arboretum employees, volunteers and even Licking County local high school students. The boxes are separated into different age groups and are filled with STEM and art activities along with the supplies needed, instructions and a book. Right now, more than 200 winter camp boxes are being sent out and include a scarf for the winter months. In addition to OVESC, we send these camp boxes to the Newark Townhomes.
These boxes for both collaborations are meant to educate, inspire and provide a gift of curiosity to children who may not have easy access to these means. They are broken out into different age categories along with themes that are appropriately matched to those ages. This round’s themes included K-2nd grade: Beautiful Birds, 3rd-5th grade: Winter Wonders and 6th-8th grade: Winter in the Woods.
During the fall season, we were so kindly invited to the Midland Theatre located in downtown Newark, Ohio for their program, Yellow Bus. This event is sponsored by Mortellaro McDonald's, The Licking County Foundation and The Ohio Arts Council. The series allowed thousands of students across Licking County to join and learn in a way that is fun and engaging. This year, The Arboretum's Learning and Engagement team presented “Trees at Work”. More than 1500 students from elementary schools throughout Licking County arrived to learn about all things trees and their functions. They left with a new outlook on trees and their large impact on our everyday lives!
The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology’s “Girls STEAM Ahead” program also took place during the fall months. Our Science and Conservation team as well as our Learning and Engagement team joined the event along with other organizations around Licking County for high school students 9th-12th grade. This event acknowledges women of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM) and our teams taught the importance of knowledge and passion for environmental science. We were able to share the significance of conservation of plants for the future of our planet.
All of these programs we were a part of for community outreach this year provided us the opportunity to share our mission of enriching lives through the conservation of trees, nature and histor