Dragon Run Environmental Academy Mentorship
We are actively planning for DREAM 2026! Teachers from area school districts will participate in a two-day immersion of the Dragon Run Watershed.
Contact Terry Skinner at terryandsteve@gmail.com if you are a high school teacher or college professor and interested in participating in 2026!
DREAM Group Video 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q34uwMk7LQ8
DREAM Group Video 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG-qPN3zO50&feature=youtu.be
What is DREAM?
Members of the Youth and Community Outreach Committee, Susan Walton, Bambi Thompson, Molly Broderson, Carol Kauffman, and Terry Skinner, met in 2022 to discuss ideas to make future scheduled kayak trips for students a more meaningful experience. After sharing ideas and thoughts the committee agreed the missing ingredient seemed to be the educator’s hands-on experiences on the Dragon Run. And from there, a dream was born!
DREAM, Dragon Run Environmental Academy Mentorship, was created as a program to train and mentor educators that serve seventh grade life science students in Essex, Gloucester, King and Queen, Mathews, and Middlesex Counties. This grade level was selected as it aligns with the Virginia Standards of Learning and the students’ maturity level to explore the Dragon Run, ideal. The team, all previous educators, felt strongly that educators needed to feel comfortable and knowledgeable BEFORE bringing their students to kayak and hike the trails in the Dragon Watershed. They also believed the educators needed to be compensated for their time which required funding. We are now extending our reach to high school and college - all disciplines. And other VA counties!
The committee, nicknamed The DREAM Team, looked at possible funding sources. A extraordinary grant, from Dominion Energy in December of 2022, seeded our very first academy. Since that time, the team has been awarded generous grants from The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. The DREAM Team has been planning, ordering materials, and excitedly sharing the love for the Dragon with each other.
The curriculum for DREAM is based on “An Educator’s Guide to the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience” or MWEE. “MWEEs are learner-centered experiences that focus on investigations into local environmental issues that lead to informed action and civic engagement. Teachers play an important role in presenting unbiased information and assisting students with their research and exploration.” The educators experience MWEEs and in turn, use MWEEs to guide their students as they create their own conservation action project.
On July 29th and 30th, educators from local schools will participate in this professional in-service program at our Big Island complex. The instructors, all volunteers, were experienced educators and FODR members. The local teachers will be immersed in a number of field experiences throughout the two days. Each day includes nature hikes, kayaking paddle trips, and stream-side water investigations. These activities will enable the taechers to develop Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences(MWEEs) for their own students. FODR volunteers will mentor them throughout the school year and host field days for their students.
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Who Are We?
Promoting preservation and protection of the Dragon Run watershed