CCSD's Minnie Hughes Students in the Great Outdoors

It's a relief to see that collaboration does take place between the College of Charleston and the Charleston County School District. Some of us have wondered why the district does not partner more frequently with C of C. A case in point is the recent project on 18th-century naturalist and artist Mark Catesby at Minnie Hughes Elementary. Included in the project is SCETV, all working under the aegis of the Catesby Commemorative Trust. 

The C of C Education Department developed the project's parameters, and C of C education professors help its implementation. Early this month second-graders of Minnie Hughes visited Dixie Plantation, also owned by C of C, to practice Catesby's methods of first drawing from nature and then filling in more scientific details. 

Needless to say, these students were thrilled to be out of the classroom and in a natural setting for their project. One professor suggested that, "Some of these children had never been in 'real' nature before. They were amazed."

I'm also amazed that students who attend a school that most Charlestonians would consider in the "boonies" have never experienced "real" nature.  No parent or caregiver has ever taken them out into the woods, fields, and marshes practically within sight of Minnie Hughes? 

That's just plain sad.