GRCES Evergreen families:

The teases of spring are here. The sun is still above its horizon during dinner. Crocuses and snowdrops are bravely extending their petals. Mud and puddles remain after wintery-mixes melt away. 

It’s in the outdoors where we often consider our curiosities and most live into the characteristics of Lifelong Explorers. Looking both backwards on the past few weeks and ahead toward spring break, the Evergreen Campus has ample examples of nature-based experiences that lead our students to exploration and inquiry: 

• Van Andel Education Enrichment Week: During our time in Van Andel’s labs, Team 2 students studied water samples, searching for (and finding!) microorganisms to determine water quality. We look forward to our K-5 CREW presentations on the morning of Friday, March 17.
• John Ball Zoo Lab: Team 3 is growing in excitement over their week spent at the Zoo studying animals, conservation, and sustainability. At the end of the week, CREWs will travel the Zoo hearing presentations from our Team 3 animal experts! Meanwhile, on campus the week prior, JBZ will visit our preschoolers with their Traveling Zoo. 
• Continued Exploration on our Nature-based Playscape: From 18-month-olds to 12-year-olds, students of all ages have been enjoying our newest playground. Climbing, jumping, and building are encouraged as students engage with natural materials and create their own play opportunities during recess. 

In The Art of the Common Place: The Agrarian Essays, Wendell Berry states, “outdoors we are confronted everywhere with wonders.” A similar sentiment is echoed in his short story Boundaries: 

“Such a little piece of the world as he has before him now would be worth a man’s long life, watching and listening. And then he could go two hundred feet and live again another life, listening and watching, and his eyes would never be satisfied with seeing, nor his ears filled with hearing.”

We’ll keep exposing our wonderful students to nature here at school. I ask that you join with me this spring in wondering over our Creator, praising our God alongside your children.