Environmental center helps school nurture love of nature

School is out for most students, but don't tell that to Jamie Zehmer and Josh Hosay. These boys are busy learning by hiking, bird-watching and spelunking.

Ask Josh about the birds he watches, and he will drop everything, including his newly made bird feeder, to point out his favorite fliers.

Goldfinches, wood thrushes, horned owls, swifts. No need to prod him for answers. The 9-year-old will jaw about wildlife like most children his age will about Pokemon.

"I love nature so much. Nature, nature, nature," Josh says, waiting for his ride to pick him up from camp.

Jamie, too, will tell you about his favorite, the cedar waxwing.

"Their wings really attract me," Jamie says. "They have an orange crest and a black mask. They look like wax birds that can fly."

The boys' adulation stirs their Schuylkill Center camp counselors, who blithely sit across the table, absorbing the pair's zest.

Josh and Jamie are two of several summer campers who are also students at Green Woods Charter, one of three environmentally focused charter schools in the region.

The K-8 school, which sends many of its graduates to top magnet high schools, officials say, also has a unique alliance with the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

The school's campus is connected to the nature center on Hagy's Mill Road in Roxborough, and many school-year activities are aided by resident ecologists.

Camp is this summer's highlight for Josh, who comes from his Chestnut Hill home to Andorra, where he feeds his curiosity through science books, miles-long hikes, and, of course, bird-watching during his one-week stay.

For Jamie, nothing beats his three weeks at camp, except for a visit to his grandparents' house.

While the boys relish the surroundings, administrators at Green Woods are within earshot, busily planning the curriculum for this fall.

The Green Woods classes "infuse environmental concepts across all disciplines," said Jean Wallace, academic director for the school.

Wallace, who previously worked for nonprofits to bring environmental education into public schools, was attracted to Green Woods because of the school's green vision. "I wanted to be a part of something sustainable," Wallace said.

Sustainable - and alluring - she has made it: The school of 200 students has room for only 25 additional students, and had to turn away more than 150 hopefuls, Wallace said. As a privately run and publicly funded school, it must keep its enrollment within the limits of its charter.

Spirited by the school's success, Wallace ultimately hopes to see Green Woods expand to all 12 grades.

The partnership with the school also works for the Schuylkill Center. "We want to create a model for the state and the country," Dennis Burton, executive director of the nature center, said of the unique alliance.

While school is out for the summer, campers use this 370-acre expanse - complete with ponds, meadows and wildlife - as their rustic playground, sometimes extending borders for field trips. Last week, they trekked to Crystal Cave in Kutztown, where children experienced a new ecosystem firsthand, something no textbook could do for them.

The unique program began in 2002 when the Schuylkill Center partnered with Green Woods to offer students the chance to bring nature into the classroom, and - perhaps more progressively - take the classroom outside. The founders had less than half a year, rushing to hire teachers, plan a curriculum, and court students.

Now, five years later, the school has overcome adversity and is poised to offer a broader approach to education.

The center and school practice what they teach, too, striving to create a fully green facility within a few years. They started by installing solar panels on the roofs.

"These kids are experiencing nature and making memories that will last them until they are adults, when they will be faced with big environmental decisions," said Camilla Rivera-Tinsley, the center's camp director. Counselors at the camp must have at least two years of college experience and a background in environmental studies, Rivera-Tinsley said.

Her two son's passion for the environment is something that awes Dana Lotkowski, who is one of the school's cofounders. In a welcome role reversal, the boys often come home from Green Woods and teach their parents something new.

"I can't put it into words," Lotkowski said of her satisfaction with the school, adding that her two boys "can't wait to go back" to Green Woods.

Meanwhile at camp, Jamie already grasps the importance of natural land.

"I love to go down to the pond," he says. "It's where we get to roam freely."