On October 7th, Katja took a group of students to White Memorial Conservation Center in Litchfield, CT. Every year, human activity pushes more animals towards extinction. However, no one thinks about how close they are to us. White Memorial is a local natural history museum and conservation center that has invited Katja and the ACE students to experience the state’s largest wildlife sanctuary for years since Katja started working at the school.
Students who attended were already talking about the damage humans have caused around them in the Environmental Science class. Katja pushes environmental safety and enforces it in her classroom, teaching us little things every day. Everyday actions like turning off the faucet when not using it helps us conserve and teaches us how every little thing we do can make a difference in the environment, the ecosystem, and the animals. This was a very relevant experience for Katja and her students.
At White Memorial, students learned about all types of ecosystems, starting with simple topics. Later, we moved on to more concerning issues of extinction around us in Connecticut. Katja mentioned that her favorite part of the conversation was “watching the animals, getting to interact with them, and explaining our purpose for being there. Show native, endangered species and witness and hold them.” the entire class got to go around and hold and touch a box turtle, and eastern hognose snake.
The drive and trip were very comfortable, a familiar experience for everyone, from the teachers to the students. Katja had been doing this consecutively since the spring of 2019, describing it as “perfect, nice, easy, and quick. It was also nice that Diana was there too to converse and help out.” Thank you to the Great Memorial, the eight students who attended Diana and Katja for making this view a recent tradition at ACE.
