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CREC Magnet Schools Observe Earth Day, Care for the Environment with Special Events and Programs
(Hartford, CT) From recycled fashion to a farm-to-table environmental lesson, magnet schools at the Capitol Region Education Council support caring for the environment. Special events were organized in observance of Earth Day, while others are year-round environmentally conscious programs.
On April 22, CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering and the MIT Club of Hartford are jointly hosting an educational event for science students and MIT Alumni community featuring former NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and world-renowned glass artist Josh Simpson. In addition to lectures by the two speakers, and a lunch, there will be multiple afternoon sessions featuring aerospace industry presentations from; ACT Group - Industrial 3D printing; ACMT Inc. - Advanced aerospace materials and adhesives; GKN Inc, - Next generation Composite Materials; and presentations from student teams who are building a full size RV-12 airplane, preparing entries for the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), and members of the AAE "Pirates of the Pythagorean" robotics team. The event is taking place on Saturday, April 22 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the CREC Academy of Aerospace and Engineering, 1101 Kennedy Road in Windsor. If you are interested in attending, please contact Reed MacMillan at (617)229-9626.
On April 24, CREC Discovery Academy, in collaboration with the CREC Academy of Science and Innovation will observe Earth Day with “Exploring the Earth a Bite at a Time,” a farm-to-table game and salad making program. Classes will get into groups to design a salad, identify where the food is sourced from, calculate the environmental impact of each ingredient, plot the geographic location on a map and record data on an impact worksheet. The event is scheduled to take place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at CREC Discovery Academy, 176 Cumberland Avenue in Wethersfield.
On April 26, the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts will take its Art in the Community class to plant seedlings at the Comstock Ferre in Wethersfield from 1:10 p.m. to 3:20 p.m. The class will also deliver painted bird houses to a nature trail in Manchester on May 3, 2017.
In addition to these events, a couple of CREC schools offer environmentally friendly programs for students throughout the school year. The CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts offers a Recycled Fashion class where students learn how to restructure unused clothing into viable accessories or garments that are budget and earth friendly. The class emphasizes creativity through recycling, basic hand and machine sewing, and color and design theory. The class recently made and donated pillows and blankets for the children's unit at Institute for Living at Hartford Hospital.
Similarly, the CREC Discovery Academy has a new Upcycle Club. The definition of upcycle is to reuse discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original. During the club, fourth-graders repurpose fabric to make new items. Students gather at recess to work at a sewing station that includes two sewing machines recently donated to the new Design Lab. Clare Neseralla, the Discovery Academy STEM Coach, is a quilter and has been sewing since she was in kindergarten and she wants to pass the skill on to Discovery students.
