Lower School Students Campus Cleanup

At the weekly Green Ambassadors meeting, lower school teachers David Nagel and Lisa Martin along with students spent time cleaning up the campus after the big thaw. The green ambassadors program is a school wide club with a three prong mission for environmental advocacy, education, and experiences outdoors.

Sarah Smith Presents at Green Design Saves Green Event

During spring break, Director of Science Research, Upper School Biology teacher, and Preserve Manager Sarah Smith presented at Green Design Saves Green, a workshop that was held at Germantown Academy on March 26 for public and private larger property owners and managers.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) and Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) organized and sponsored the conference in which a number of local professionals presented, including Ms. Smith and Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC representative Carolyn Campbell, wife of Middle School Dean of Students Jonas Jeswald.

During the presentation portion of the workshop in the Honickman Auditorium, the audience listened to several different organizations present case studies of ecological restoration on various types of properties: residential developments, corporate parks, preserved spaces and schools. By listening to these case studies, other land owners, land managers, and industry professionals were able to learn about new techniques that have been successfully implemented in order to mitigate stormwater issues. Attendees also took a tour, led by Ms. Smith and Ms. Campbell, of Germantown Academy’s numerous green features, including the gray water system, Green Roof, Academic Courtyard, rain gardens, Wissahickon Creek and preserved wetlands.

“The goal of the workshop was to present and discuss landscape techniques to help improve environmental sustainability on a property (mainly related to stormwater management), while saving money and improving both stewardship practices and community relations,” said Ms. Smith. “It was a great way to showcase what we are doing at Germantown Academy on a daily basis.”

Kindergarten Winter Walk on The Woods Trails

Prior to spring break (which given the cold weather felt a whole lot more like winter break 2) GA's kindergarten classes went on a brisk walk on the Woods Trail with Lower School science teacher Lisa Martin.

Sweet Honey at Last

At long last, in late autumn,  upper school students saw the fruits of laboring over and tending to the bee hives in GA's apiary. Located on the Green Roof, The Apiary has been a focal point of our nature program since the since students took residence in the new buildings in 2011. Lily Horner GA class of 2015 reflects upon her work as an emerging Beekeeper.

"I had been in Apiary Club for a year and a half before we harvested any honey. After waiting that long and doing a lot of work, I felt that extracting honey was the apex of my “career” as a beekeeper. Since Apiary Club isn’t a club that meets during the rotation or has any specific meeting times, I was worried that no one would come to be apart of this historic moment, but thankfully five people came (a huge draw for such a small club), and we all worked hard and had fun collecting the honey. We had some difficulty getting the equipment to work according to the directions at first, but once we started going with the extractor we didn’t stop. Taking turns to spin the handle and hold the extractor so that it didn’t fall off the table, we all were involved in the extraction process. No one stood idly by while one person did the work, nor did all of the students sit and watch while the teachers did the actual work. When you think of beekeeping, you think of one person standing around a swarm of bees, but in actuality beekeeping at GA has been a great communal experience, and it has taught me about collaboration and giving back to the environment."