Paddle Your Park Brings Over 240 Students to Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton

Gateway Arch Park Foundation continues to support Paddle Your Park, an educational program for fourth graders from local Title I schools and under-served communities. 

Its aim is to get kids outside to learn, supplementing classroom education with a field experience that motivates the next generation to take action to restore and protect natural habitats.

Paddle Your Park is hosted by the National Park Service together with several community partners, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Safety Team, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Missouri State Parks, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, and the Audubon Center at Riverlands.

Between May 9-10, 2023, more than 240 students from three local elementary schools participated at the Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton, MO.

There, they learned about the area’s flora and fauna, discussed natural and cultural history, human impact, and developed a better understanding and appreciation for their shared natural heritage, as well as threats to local ecosystems.

The fun-filled program consisted of a series of on-land activities to introduce the students to issues affecting water quality, various aquatic species, concepts of pollution and bioaccumulation, and wetland science – as well as an opportunity to get on the water in canoes!

That was the best field trip I have ever been on! If you continue this program next year, we are totally interested!

Teacher
Frohardt Elementary

A special thank you to the Regional Business Council for supporting this program.