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| (Starting back left) HHLT Educator Irene O'Garden, teacher Maureen Beyrer, Putnam Valley Elementary School, and featured student poets Jordan, Ava, Nicholas, Gianna, Ben and Eric at the opening reception of HHLT's River of Words Poetry Trail at Constitution Marsh. |
October 18, 2013
HHLT and Hudson Highlands Nature Museum Present Poetry Trail
Installation to Showcase Local Students' Nature-Inspired Poetry
Garrison, NY - The Hudson Highlands Land Trust (HHLT) and Hudson Highlands Nature Museum are pleased to announce the opening of the River of Words Poetry Trail at the Outdoor Discovery Center in Cornwall, NY. The Poetry Trail is a series of unique, temporary installations celebrating the nature-inspired poetry of local students winding through one of the Hudson Highlands' most inspiring natural settings; the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum's Outdoor Discovery Center at Kenridge Farm.
The eight featured works are poems created by students from public schools within the Land Trust's mission area during HHLT's Regional River of Words (ROW) environmental education workshops throughout the 2012-13 school year. This year's featured student poets include Ava Alter from Doreen Gleason's 3rd grade class at Cornwall Elementary School at Lee Road, Jenna Pryne and Sophia Tata from Linda Line's 3rd grade class and Nicholas FitzGerald from Kelly Hogan's 3rd grade class at Cornwall Elementary School at Willow Avenue, Ben McEwen from Jennifer Windels' 4th grade class at Haldane Elementary School, and Gianna Bianco, Eric Rosenfield and Jordan Tucker from Maureen Beyrer's 4th grade class at Putnam Valley Elementary School.
The River of Words HHLT Poetry Trail kicked off with a special opening reception for the young poets, their families, and members of the HHLT and Nature Museum boards of directors on Saturday, October 12. The invitation-only reception featured a live reading by award- winning poet and River of Words educator, Irene O'Garden. The self-guided tour of the HHLT Poetry Trail at the Outdoor Discovery Center is open to the public and will be available to explore during the center's regular hours, October 12 through November 17, 2013. Poetry Trail maps are located at the Outdoor Discovery Center at the beginning of the trail, under the red flag.
This past August, the Constitution Marsh Audubon Center and Sanctuary hosted a River of Words Poetry Trail featuring a set of eight poems written by different children from both sides of the river. Both Poetry Trail installations were made possible through a generous grant from Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp.
“The Hudson Highlands Land Trust and Hudson Highlands Nature Museum work to preserve a unique and sensitive ecosystem here in the Mid-Hudson Valley, all while educating our younger citizens on the value of our natural world,” said James P. Laurito, President of Central Hudson. “We are proud to support their mission and to help share the creative works of these students through their poetry.”
“When we got the invitation, we were honored and excited,” said Irene O'Garden. 'The Hudson Highlands Nature Museum fosters nature education and celebration in a delightful, interactive way. We're delighted to add the bridge of children's poetry over our stunning Hudson River!”
“I can't think of a more wonderful way to walk a trail than by reading poems along the way that show how children view nature,” exclaimed Jackie Grant, Executive Director of the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. “We are thrilled to host the Poetry Trail.”
River of Words is an international program co-founded by US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and affiliated with the Library of Congress Center for the Book. ROW strives to incorporate observation-based nature exploration and the arts into traditional education.
HHLT offers a free regional version of ROW to public schools in the Hudson Highlands, using the resources of the national program to focus on the Hudson River watershed. The program also trains teachers to use nature as a learning laboratory, conducts outdoor student workshops and ties nature-inspired, outdoor-based programming to the New York State Core Curriculum Standards. The Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words Program is made possible by the generous support of Central Hudson Gas & Electric, the Charlotte Cunneen Hackett Charitable Trust, The Ettinger Foundation, the Royal Bank of Canada Foundation-USA and The Vidda Foundation.
The Hudson Highlands Land Trust is an accredited, non-profit, community-based land conservation organization dedicated to the protection of the natural resources, rural character, and scenic beauty of the Hudson Highlands. Through its educational outreach, the Land Trust strives to instill the importance of stewardship in the area's youngest residents. For more information, please visit www.hhlt.org or call 845/424- 3358.
The Hudson Highlands Nature Museum is the region's leader in nature education experiences. Founded in 1959 in Cornwall, NY, it uses its living collections of native animals, natural habitats and trails to offer a wide variety of programs that annually reach over 35,000 children, families and adults with its mission of “creating responsible caretakers of the environment.” For more information, please visit www.hhnaturemuseum.org or call 845/534-5506.
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