This fall saw 260 enthusiastic students disembarking from school buses and stepping onto the shores of Buzzards Bay, ready for a full day of immersive outdoor learning at the Onset Bay Center.
On a crisp October morning, a teacher at East Fairhaven Elementary School leads a line of fourth-grade students across their schoolyard toward a forest that borders the school property.
A group of four outdoor educators from the Buzzards Bay Coalition is waiting for the students at the edge of the forest. One by one, the educators introduce themselves – lead outdoor educator Meghan Gahm and service members Brendan Buckless, Sarah Gossett, and Tanya Creamer – and then lead the class toward a trail that disappears into the woods.
It’s the very first time the Coalition has held an outdoor education program here at the East Fairhaven Elementary School trail, a new mile-long path that will connect students, teachers, and the community to the natural resources in their own backyard.