2026-2027
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Kari Wilcher, Outdoor Educator: kwilcher@bryan.k12.ga.us
During the 2026–2027 school year, Carver Elementary’s Outdoor Education program will focus on sharing our Eco-Story through student-led exploration, conservation, and storytelling. As a registered #GenerationRestoration School with the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), Carver joins a global movement by empowering students to take meaningful action for nature. Students will expand the Carver Wildlife Portrait Gallery and create an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap that documents the biodiversity of our campus, highlighting what species we find, where we find them, and the stories they tell about our local ecosystem. Building on the success of our award-winning Seeds of Stewardship initiative—recognized through the Georgia GOLD Grant, Georgia DNR Conservation Teacher of the Year Grant, and National Wildlife Federation Eco-Schools Green Flag certification—students will continue restoring habitats, enhancing biodiversity, and serving as environmental stewards. This work will provide the foundation for future conservation projects, community partnerships, and grant opportunities while inspiring students to connect deeply with the natural world around them.
Our purpose is to connect children to nature through schoolyard biodiversity exploration and stewardship.
We develop the mind of a scientist and the heart of a steward by helping students discover what lives here, understand how living things interact with their environment, and take meaningful action to care for the ecosystems they study.
Our Outdoor Education program is grounded in
Student-Led, Experiential, Phenomena-Based, Place-Based, Project-Based, and Problem-Based Pedagogy.
"If students are to understand how professional scientists function in their workplaces, they must have the opportunity for hands-on experience in the forests, wetlands, coastal regions, and watersheds in which scientists conduct research." -AFWA, The North American Conservation Education Strategy: State Science Standards and K-12 Field Science Practice
OVERARCHING YEAR-LONG PROJECTS: SHARING OUR ECO-STORY
Species Documentation Through Photography And Sound Recording
Our leading project this year is a year-long, student-led stewardship action project called The Wildlife Portrait Gallery of Dr. GW Carver Elementary. Inspired by National Geographic's PhotoARK, photographer Joel Sartore, students will publish their species photography through schoolwide displays and publications.
BIOLOGICAL INVENTORY
BIOLOGICAL INVENTORY
Goal: Document 600 species on our campus and continue to support our research contributions.
NATURE CONNECTION
NATURE CONNECTION
Goal: Connect kids to nature while increasing the biodiversity of our schoolyard.
Sharing Our Eco-Story with ArcGIS Storymap
POINT MAPPING
POINT MAPPING
Goal: Document species morphometric and habitat data and create a point map of our campus of known data points to establish population size and trends, habitat requirements, spatial data and distribution, and inform conservation actions.
SOIL
SOIL
Goal: Create a soil lab in the forest and share soil data to GLOBE
“The most powerful science learning takes place when students observe, explore, and investigate their own schoolyard ecosystems.”-NSTA – Outdoor Science Instruction: Making It Work
#GenerationRestoration
The Seeds of Stewardship project centers on two primary goals: connecting children to nature and increasing biodiversity on campus through student-led habitat restoration. Every student at Dr. G.W. Carver Elementary in Richmond Hill, Georgia participates in authentic, hands-on fieldwork as part of the school’s Outdoor Education program, which serves more than 675 students each week across 50 acres of wetland, bioswale, and forest habitats within the Ogeechee River Basin.
Seeds of Stewardship is our leading 2025-26 National Wildlife Federation Eco-Schools Green Flag Action project.
Seeds of Stewardship is supported by the Department of Natural Resources Conservation Teacher of the Year Grant, TERN - Friends of Georgia's Nongame Wildlife, the Georgia GOLD Grant, the Garden Club of Richmond Hill with inkind donations from the Xerces Society, Coastal Wildscapes, the University of Georgia, and the Georgia Native Plant Society.
NATIVE HABITAT RESTORATION
HABITAT CERTIFICATION
NATIVE HABITAT RESTORATION
HABITAT CERTIFICATION
Goal: Collect native seeds and create native habitats to increase the biodiversity of our schoolyard.
NATIVE SEED COLLECTION
NATIVE SEED COLLECTION
Goal: Collect native seeds and share with our community.
For the 26-27 school year, Carver is a registered #GenerationRestoration School.
The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), in partnership with the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, is supporting schools worldwide to take meaningful action for nature. By becoming a #GenerationRestoration School, Carver will join a global effort to stop and reverse ecosystem degradation, while gaining access to inspiring learning materials, hands-on activities and other opportunities for students and educators.
Our project, Seeds of Stewardship, is our flagship project for #GenerationRestoration.
ADVOCACY
Carver students write letters to our representatives to advocate for policies that impact outdoor learning, our schoolyard, and the Ogeechee River Basin. Student advocacy supports our National Wildlife Federation Eco-Schools Action Plan and is supported by the National Association of Environmental Education Guidelines of Excellence.
Revitalizing America’s Schoolyards Act (RSYA)
Funding and support provided by:
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