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SHERMAN, TEXAS – This week Austin College will welcome the group that includes the 10,000th participant to its Sneed Prairie Field Trip Program, hosted by students from the Austin College Center for Environmental Studies. Since the program’s beginnings in summer 2002, teachers and school children from more than 20 school districts scattered across Grayson County have visited. The program is made possible by funding from grants and support from a range of organizations.
For the fieldtrips, the children and their teachers visit Austin College’s 100-acre“Clinton and Edith Sneed Environment Research Area and Prairie Restoration,” donated to the College in 1984. Each student receives a field notebook and a sharpened pencil; they spend their trip trekking through the prairie as they engage in environmental experiments, conversations, and games that teach the significances of the endangered Texas blackland prairie ecosystem.
The field trips primarily are taken by 4th and 5th grade classes. The curriculum has been specifically designed by Austin College alumni in alignment with TEKS requirements. In addition to receiving several types of preparation materials and follow-up activities, each teacher may be reimbursed for bus costs, something that has been listed as “critical” in being able to visit the site for half of the teachers surveyed since 2002.
Every other year, a hands-on Prairie Restoration course is offered to Austin College students by Dr. Peter Schulze, director of the College’s Center for Environmental Studies and professor of biology and environmental science. In the course, students apply a combination of restoration techniques to a mixture of experimental plots at Sneed Prairie. Many of the Austin College students who participate in the restoration course become field trip leaders, guiding schoolchildren, like Brandon, who said “I know more about prairies than I ever have before.” Another child told staff, “I hope by the time I grow up the whole prairie will be restored back to its old healthy ways again.”
More detailed information on the Sneed Prairie Field Trip Program can be found at http://www.austincollege.edu/academics/centers-and-college-wide-programs/center-for-environmental-studies/sneed-prairie-field-trips/
Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, international study, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 40 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of 1,250 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 12:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.