Elise LaRocco and Kali Bird join environmental education program
The Hudson Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) welcomes Elise LaRocco and Kali Bird to its River of Words (ROW) environmental education program team. Along with the ROW educators Cathy Bakker, Irene O’Garden and Pete Salmansohn, LaRocco and Bird will help bring free hands-on, environmental education programs to public schools within HHLT’s mission area.
LaRocco brings strong writing and communication skills, and a love of the outdoors, to her role as River of Words program coordinator. She has conducted writing workshops for children and currently tutors middle school students in literature comprehension and grammar.
Bird, HHLT’s newest River of Words educator, has shared her enthusiasm for science and the environment with students during her tenure at the Carey Institute and, before that, Michigan State University. This past summer, she led an Orienteering Adventure for Teens with HHLT Stewardship Coordinator Matt Decker as part of the River of Words Summer Workshop Series.
By drawing on children’s imagination, creativity and natural curiosity, HHLT’s River of Words workshops plant the seeds for lifelong learning. Students discover for themselves the richness and complexity of the natural world, history and the arts.
The program’s focus on place-based education underscores the idea that learning can occur out of the classroom, and deepens the children’s connection to and understanding of the Hudson River’s historic and vital estuary system.
School administrators, educators and parents interested in learning more about the River of Words program can visit hhltrow.org or contact LaRocco at 845-424-3358, ext. 7, or [email protected].
