Needham schools receive EPA grant

Published by The Boston Globe

The Environmental Protection Agency announced today an Environmental Education Grant award to the Needham Public Schools of $44,510, according to a press release.

The grant will be used over two years to fund a program called the Eco-Explorers, which will bring fourth and fifth graders into outdoors spaces in the elementary school neighborhoods to learn about sustainability. Some of the sites will include a farm, a nature trail, school gardens and a courtyard learning center.


“We tend to be a society that’s indoors,” said Mary Rizzuto, director of the science center who is leading the program. “Having the environment be a part of a child’s learning from the very beginning and embedding it in all the things they do is really powerful for us as citizens.”

The Eco-Explorers program has established an Environmental Education Leadership Team, which met last month at the community garden at the Newman Elementary School, said Rizzuto. The team includes the Needham Science Center, teachers and volunteers from the community.

The program aims to train a core group of teachers who will then educate the rest of the school staff about incorporating environmental lessons into their curriculums, making the program self-sustainable, said Rizzuto.

The EPA has awarded seven grants worth $190,000 in total for environmental education throughout New England, according to the release.