Nine year old Molly Elder was embarrassed when she got a phone call that her drawing of a Stellar's Jay had won the prize for her age group. It was judged best of the entries by eight to 10 year olds at Audubon Washington's Art Youth Exhibit and Open House on March 4 at the Seward Park Nature Center. And to top off her embarrassment, the image of her drawing was re-printed as edible icing on a cake at the exhibit, next to two other cakes, one with an American Kestrel by Anthony Richards, 15, and one with a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird by Khiry Alexander, 12.
The art exhibit is a program under a larger plan to promote environmental awareness and activity for kids and families in Seward Park, its nearby neighborhoods, and, ultimately, for all of Seattle's residents. The Washington Audubon Society and Seattle Parks and Recreations have partnered to reach this goal, but it comes with some hefty obstacles. According to Seattle Parks and Recreation statistics, the city's most diverse population surrounds Seward Park: a swath of folks representing 73 distinct ethnicities. Also, the South End boasts the largest population of K-12 children, as well as some of the poorest schools in Seattle.
At the Seward Park Environmental Learning Center exhibit, a wall of artwork by three and four-year-olds came from a South End bi-lingual preschool program, and six of the entries in the oldest age group were done by 11-21 year olds from the Queen Anne neighborhood's Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center. Some of these students are currently working at a pre-literate level of English.
For these schools, funding a field trip to Seward Park's Nature Center includes $125 for bus transportation and $240 for an hour and a half tour and talk with a naturalist such as Christina Gallegos. In the Seward Park area, says Gallegos, many schools closest to the park are too short on supplemental funding to take advantage of its programs.
However, perhaps even more central in the minds of many South End students, larger than the financial and logistical problems surrounding participation, is the reigning attitude toward nature many of the city's environmental leaders are currently observing. According to Candy Castellanos, director of Audubon Centers and Education, the urban and the environmental are often thought of as separate. Audubon, she asserts, is committed to "connecting the dots between how that world affects this world and vice versa."
Establishing such work in the Seward Park neighborhood is relatively unprecedented. According to Castellanos, environmental education is traditionally valued and supported by white, middle- to upper-class neighborhoods, and poorer neighborhoods have a history of being deprived of access to the philosophy that nature is a classroom.
"The words 'environmental education' don't have a meaning, because there are no reference points," Castellanos said.
How does Castellanos hope to define them? Ultimately, she hopes to show young people, and their families and friends, that the environment is a space for inspiration as well as a place for jobs. Castellanos also strives to move peoples' perceptions away from the current, dominant view that nature is separate. According to Castellanos, this shift in perception works to "transform the environment into [becoming the place] where you live, work, and play."
Gallegos, who has been a naturalist for Seattle Parks for 25 years, estimates that while 30 percent of the park stays busy and populated, 70 percent goes fairly unused. Backing this data up, Gallegos cited a group survey done between March and June last year. Of the people questioned, 92 percent of them currently use the 300-acre park, but only 82 percent use its perimeter. Gallegos feels guided walks with a naturalist could be one solution to this under-use problem.
In addition to showcasing children's art and activities in Seward Park, Audubon is trying to combine environmental health, environmental justice, and environmental education. These areas of environmental stewardship, says Castellanos, have traditionally been kept very separate.
According to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, schools with environmental education do better on the WASL. Castellanos pairs this with the fact that the Seattle School District isn't meeting the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act. Because a natural classroom has a tendency to be more hands-on, she feels students tend to retain more-it's a type of learning that can extend to traditional classrooms and help kids in all aspects of education.
A Tudor-style house at Seward Park's entrance serves as the nature and environmental learning center. It happens to be the flagship Audubon Center for the whole state, and headquarters for the work of uniting the urban way of life with it's unavoidable environmental roots.
Built in 1927, the building was named a Seattle Historic Landmark in 2003. Plans to renovate the structure are currently in the works, with the re-opening of the state-of-the-art environmental learning center marked for February 2007. Within the blueprints, the renovated space reveals two large classrooms, a library, a wet lab, offices, and a welcome center.
With a future of activism and education in mind, the March 4 art exhibit was part of Audubon's Centennial Celebration. Winners from exhibits all over the nation will see their work go displayed at a national Audubon gallery to form a modern-day Birds of America study in honor of the ornithological, pictorial accomplishments by John James Audubon, the company's namesake, in the 1800s.
Anthony Richards, whose drawing of the American Kestrel won the 14-17 age bracket competition, is a 9th grader at Port Angeles High School. He and his family traveled on ferries and in cabs to make the three to four hour round trip for the art exhibit. Richards wants to be a zoologist, has enjoyed nature since he can remember, and is aware of having unusual interests.
He says only a handful of people in his class share his affinity for nature. He chose to draw the Kestrel because it's a beautiful but lesser-known bird.
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