Objective 3: Community Partnerships, Awards and Special Recognition
1). Community Partners
Building community relationships with our larger community outside of campus is of great importance to us at Eagle Cove. Each grade level has a citizenship service project that they spearhead. In addition to that, we host a number of environmental partnerships as well. These include:
Building community relationships with our larger community outside of campus is of great importance to us at Eagle Cove. Each grade level has a citizenship service project that they spearhead. In addition to that, we host a number of environmental partnerships as well. These include:
- Grace Episcopal Day School in Silver Spring, MD has visited twice to enrich their environmental science program (Springs 2013, 2012). These school wide events have been favorites among the kids.
- Additionally, we offer free environmental trips for local pre-schools like the Magothy Co-Op. Pre-school children and their teachers get to experience many of the same activities as our students do while touring our campus: walking on the nature trail, getting seining demonstrations from the 4th and 5th grade students, checking the oyster spat on the dock, and petting the snake or iguana in a controlled setting. We also offer such trips for groups such as the Girl Scouts.
- We have collaborated with Wolfe Street Academy in Baltimore by inviting them to our campus. Additionally, teachers have taken environmental education to their school.
- We are in collaboration with Anne Arundel Community College. With them, we are growing emergent plants and floating gardens for placement around our pier.
- We partner with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation who provides us with the oyster spat for 3rd graders to monitor. They also provide us with the field trip up the Magothy to release the spat up the river.
- We also have an association with the Marylanders Grow Oyster [MGO] Program. They annually deliver several hundred pounds of oyster spat to our campus.
- We have a huge partnership with the Magothy River Association [MRA]:
Every student on campus takes part in this activity at the beginning of the school year.
o Weekly, 3rd graders collect water quality data on the Magothy River.
o Quarterly, 4th graders visit Beachwood Park for tree planting, tree identification, and park restoration.
o Yearly, 5th graders collect surface water temperature of the Magothy River during their spring canoe trip.
- Annually we hold Earth Week to coincide with Earth Day. During this week, we have had environmental experts come to share with the school. These include:
environmental books;
o Artist-in-residence musician Linda Richards writes eco-parodies with each class to teach
environmental literacy;
o Animal rehabilitator Kathy Woods brings animals to share proper treatment of wild animals;
o Solar Energy World provided our school with solar powered car kits for the students to design
o Green Builder Rick Truett built a straw-bale house with the entire student population.
2) Awards and Special Recognitions
- September 2013: Senator Simonaire recognized our school at the “2nd Annual Chesapeake Summit” for our work with the Maryland Grows Oyster Program. Each individual student was given a citation commending their work with this project.
- April 2012: 3rd grade teacher Vicki Dabrowka received the Anne Arundel Teacher of the Year [Independent School Division]. Her main educational platform was to promote environmental education in all schools.
- Annually: First graders write letters to local, state, and national representatives about implementing “bi-catch reduction devices” on all crab traps to reduce the number of terrapins accidentally caught.
- Eagle Cove School Takes An Active Role In Marylanders Grow Oysters Program
- Eagle Cove School Students Place 2,600 Pounds Of Oysters In Magothy
Save The Magothy River from Charles Germain on Vimeo.