YOUTH PROGRAM
Riverside Garden Club has been running a youth program for over three years. The club has partnered with two elementary schools -- Riverside School and North Mianus School -- to organize various educational events every spring.
Press release and photos from the youth progam in 2023
Working with the PTAs from Riverside and North Mianus schools, the Riverside Garden Club ran another very successful and fun-filled field trip to Binney Park for fifth-graders on Thursday, May 4th, and Friday, May 5th. Busloads of 148 students started their adventure at 9:30 am with a scavenger hunt through Binney. Each student was provided with a 20 item photo card and were tasked to match up the photo with the live fauna or flora in the park.
All students then participated in a hike through Binney Woods led by Greenwich’s Tree Warden, Dr. Greg Kramer. On Thursday, Joel Dawson, a beekeeper from Old Greenwich Honey, spoke to the Riverside students about the role of bees in nature and demonstrated some much needed bee-keeping equipment. On Friday, Dan Burbanker from Greenwich Land Trust spoke about bees to the North Mianus students. The North Mianus students also spent time with Jessie, a turtle and snake specialist from the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, who brought many specimens of the turtles and snakes living in Binney Pond.
“The RGC’s purpose behind the field trip is to give the students a greater appreciation for conservation and the natural beauty that surrounds us every day here in Greenwich in addition to learning more about Binney Park,” said Patty Roberts, the organizer of the event. “This is the third year that the RGC has run this event, and we hope to keep it going in the future.”
Press release and photos from the youth progam in 2023
Working with the PTAs from Riverside and North Mianus schools, the Riverside Garden Club ran another very successful and fun-filled field trip to Binney Park for fifth-graders on Thursday, May 4th, and Friday, May 5th. Busloads of 148 students started their adventure at 9:30 am with a scavenger hunt through Binney. Each student was provided with a 20 item photo card and were tasked to match up the photo with the live fauna or flora in the park.
All students then participated in a hike through Binney Woods led by Greenwich’s Tree Warden, Dr. Greg Kramer. On Thursday, Joel Dawson, a beekeeper from Old Greenwich Honey, spoke to the Riverside students about the role of bees in nature and demonstrated some much needed bee-keeping equipment. On Friday, Dan Burbanker from Greenwich Land Trust spoke about bees to the North Mianus students. The North Mianus students also spent time with Jessie, a turtle and snake specialist from the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, who brought many specimens of the turtles and snakes living in Binney Pond.
“The RGC’s purpose behind the field trip is to give the students a greater appreciation for conservation and the natural beauty that surrounds us every day here in Greenwich in addition to learning more about Binney Park,” said Patty Roberts, the organizer of the event. “This is the third year that the RGC has run this event, and we hope to keep it going in the future.”
Photos from the youth program in 2022
Photos from the youth program in 2021 (yeah, there were masks back then)
- On Earth Day 2021, the Riverside Garden Club worked both schools, involving 655 kids in a horticulture scavenger hunt. With Riverside School, working with the PTA, the club ran both a scavenger hunt for K-5 students and also an educational event. Both Old Greenwich Honeyman and WasteFree Greenwich offered major help to make these events a great success.
- On May 27th, 2021, Riverside Garden Club, again working with the PTA, organized a field trip for the fifth graders to Binney Park, where three fun educational events were held. Dr. Kramer lead a hike through the Binney Park Forest where he discussed plants and trees in the woods. Tim Walsh, a marine biologist from Bruce Park, ran a turtle exhibit and talk. And the club members lead a scavenger hunt around the pond where the students learned over forty different trees, plants and bushes that are growing around the pond.