Installation showcases nature-inspired student poetry
The Hudson Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) and Hudson Highlands Nature Museum unveiled the River of Words Poetry Trail at the Outdoor Discovery Center in Cornwall last week. The Poetry Trail is a series of unique, temporary installations celebrating the nature-inspired poetry of local students winding through one of the Hudson Highlands’ most inspiring natural settings – the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum’s Outdoor Discovery Center at Kenridge Farm.
The eight featured works are poems created by students from public schools within the Land Trust’s mission area during HHLT’s Regional River of Words (ROW) environmental education workshops throughout the 2012-13 school year.
This year’s featured student poets include Ava Alter from Doreen Gleason’s third grade class at Cornwall Elementary School at Lee Road, Jenna Pryne and Sophia Tata from Linda Line’s third grade class and Nicholas FitzGerald from Kelly Hogan’s third grade class at Cornwall Elementary School at Willow Avenue, Ben McEwen from Jennifer Windels’ fourth grade class at Haldane Elementary School, and Gianna Bianco, Eric Rosenfield and Jordan Tucker from Maureen Beyrer’s fourth grade class at Putnam Valley Elementary School.
(Photo courtesy of HHLT)
The opening reception featured a live reading by award- winning poet and River of Words educator, Irene O’Garden. The self-guided tour of the HHLT Poetry Trail at the Outdoor Discovery Center is open to the public and will be available to explore during the center’s regular hours, through Nov. 17. Poetry Trail maps are located at the Outdoor Discovery Center at the beginning of the trail, under the red flag.
“I can’t think of a more wonderful way to walk a trail than by reading poems along the way that show how children view nature,” exclaimed Jackie Grant, Executive Director of the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. “We are thrilled to host the Poetry Trail.”
HHLT offers a free regional version of ROW to public schools in the Hudson Highlands, using the resources of the national program to focus on the Hudson River watershed. The program also trains teachers to use nature as a learning laboratory, conducts outdoor student workshops and ties nature-inspired, outdoor-based programming to the New York State Core Curriculum Standards.
The Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words Program is made possible by the generous support of Central Hudson Gas & Electric, the Charlotte Cunneen Hackett Charitable Trust, The Ettinger Foundation, the Royal Bank of Canada Foundation-USA and The Vidda Foundation.
For more information, visit hhlt.org or call 845-424-3358, or hhnaturemuseum.org or call 845-534-5506.
