
{"id":1097,"date":"2007-10-11T07:54:47","date_gmt":"2007-10-11T15:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2007\/10\/11\/learning-the-ways-of-the-haw\/"},"modified":"2007-10-11T07:56:24","modified_gmt":"2007-10-11T15:56:24","slug":"learning-the-ways-of-the-haw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2007\/10\/11\/learning-the-ways-of-the-haw\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning the ways of the Haw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/hawresized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/hawresized.jpg\" height=\"174\" width=\"261\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>By Susan Dickson<\/em><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Accompanied by a group of dedicated volunteers, fourth graders from cities and towns up and down the Haw River headed out into the woods and down to the river this month.<\/p>\n<p>The Haw River Assembly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Learning Celebration brings fourth-grade students from Orange, Durham, Alamance, Chatham and Guilford counties riverside for a day.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->The program, which is in its 18th year, is broken into three week-long segments in different areas \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Bynum, Saxpahaw and Guilrock \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so that the children can visit the part of the river that runs through their backyards.<br \/>\nThe Learning Celebration is completing its final segment this week. Chapel Hill-Carrboro fourth graders visited the river in Bynum during the program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first week.<\/p>\n<p>Aaakara Wiegand, coordinator of the program, said her main goal with the program was simply to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153get kids out into the woods,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d adding that while many of the students live near the forest surrounding the river, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never been to it.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The kids are totally excited by it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Wiegand said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a fun day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The fourth graders certainly do seem to enjoy the field trip, which starts first thing in the morning and runs until after lunch.<\/p>\n<p>Madeleine Page, a fourth grader at Seawell Elementary School, said she had never before been to the Haw River but wants to come back with her family.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I want to go camping down here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really like climbing on the rocks.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The program focuses on a variety of activities, with different stations along the river. At one station, the children do nature art, while another is dedicated to hiking. Volunteers teach kids about water quality, watershed areas, pollution and pottery.<\/p>\n<p>After visiting the different stations, the fourth graders regroup for lunch and a puppet show and concert before heading back to school.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We try to have a very collective form of education that includes art and music,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Wiegand. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It includes all levels of sensory.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>One of the kids\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 favorite stops is the stream stewardship station, which uses a model to teach kids about watershed areas and pollution.<\/p>\n<p>Wendy Smith, a representative from the Town of Chapel Hill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Stormwater Management Division, used food coloring, cocoa powder and sprinkles to show the kids how different types of pollution can get into rivers. The model depicts a small town with houses, farmland, roads and a river.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the demonstration, the students used spray bottles to simulate rain, and were surprised at the amount of pollution that ended up in the model\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s river.<\/p>\n<p>Student Emily Ball said she thought other people should see it.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For some reason people think that polluting isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that bad, but they never knew how bad it was,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<br \/>\nWiegand said one of the great things about the program is not only that the kids get to learn about and appreciate the river, but that they want to learn how to protect it. One of the program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goals, she said, was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to create stewards of the environment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The kids also examine the life in the river with magnifying glasses and petri dishes at the stream watch station. While some are more interested in splashing in the water and playing on the rocks than looking for macro invertebrates, they all get to enjoy the river.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important to get the kids out on the water so they can appreciate it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d volunteer Lucas Obringer said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Even if they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take home a solid fact \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 they appreciate it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Obringer and other volunteers camped along the riverbanks in Bynum during the first week of the Learning Celebration. Volunteers set up camp by the river at each site. After the kids leave in the afternoon, they swim, canoe or do training activities.<\/p>\n<p>Part of what makes the program special, Wiegand said, is that it is almost entirely volunteer run.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nobody here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being paid to do it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It makes the experience quite different, and I think the kids can really feel that.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We get unique people each year, of all different ages and backgrounds.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Several volunteers are as young as the children participating in the program, while others are old enough to be their grandparents.<\/p>\n<p>She added that all of the sites use solar power, composting toilets and water from the river: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very self-sustaining program.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>The Learning Celebration does, however, always need more volunteers. About 30 are needed to run the program each day, so Wiegand spent about six months before the program recruiting from the watershed area.<\/p>\n<p>She continues now spreading the word about the Learning Celebration and its volunteer opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a very unique experience,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/kenturtlesresized.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/10\/kenturtlesresized.jpg\" height=\"197\" width=\"262\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Photos by Ken Moore <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer Accompanied by a group of dedicated volunteers, fourth graders from cities and towns up and down the Haw River headed out into the woods and down to the river this month. The Haw River Assembly\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Learning Celebration brings fourth-grade students from Orange, Durham, Alamance, Chatham and Guilford counties riverside for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}