Second-graders from Our Lady of the Lake (OLL) School in Seattle visited Sand Point Country Club in Seattle, Wash., for a First Green field trip on June 2. A team of superintendents led the eager 2nd graders through hands-on activities – from identifying the number of individual plants growing in a soil sample to using spoons to go through leaf compost and sort out and count the bugs. The superintendents were: Steve Kealy, First Green Board Member and Superintendent at Glendale Country Club in Bellevue, and Sand Point Country Club Assistant Superintendents Andrew Brown and Jared Rodgers.
This field trip was part of First Green’s trademarked STEM program, which uses golf courses as learning labs. Golf course superintendents need to be highly-trained in STEM to manage their golf courses; they share this knowledge with teachers and students, showing real world applications that inspire student interest in STEM.
Margaret Portelance, OLL teacher, has been bringing her students to Sand Point Country Club for five years.
About First Green
First Green is an innovative environmental education outreach program that uses golf courses as environmental learning labs – the only program of its kind. First Green provides extensive resources to golf course superintendents, including online lesson plans.
First Green has been providing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning since 1997.
Golf course superintendents and/or local golf course representatives host students on field trips where they test water quality, collect soil samples, identify plants, design plantings, assist in stream bed restoration, and are involved in the ecology and environmental aspects of the golf course. The students are also introduced to many other aspects of golf.
A tax-exempt nonprofit, First Green was founded in the State of Washington in 1997 and is expanding nationally and internationally.
For more information on First Green, please visit www.thefirstgreen.org or contact Cathy Relyea at 425.373.9915 or cathyrelyea@thefirstgreen.org.
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