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June 18, 2025

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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The We Are One Alliance; A Talk with Heather Mizeur

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This is a long form interview with Heather Mizeur

Is it possible in a polarized society for two people at opposite ends of the political spectrum to breach the chasm and recognize each other’s humanness?

That’s the question Heather Mizeur has been asking for a decade. For the former Maryland legislator, Democratic congressional candidate, and longtime civic leader, a question she is approaching again with her newly relaunched nonprofit: The We Are One Alliance.

The multi-faceted We Are One Alliance was born from Mizeur’s belief that the way we engage in politics must change if we are to heal as a nation—and as individuals.

The journey began in 2017 with the founding of Soul Force Politics, a nonprofit created in the aftermath of the 2016 election. At a time when political polarization was reaching new extremes, Mizeur sought to build a space for compassion, dialogue, and common ground. “I wanted to show people ways that we can bridge the divides and come together in a common-sense way to solve problems in our communities,” she says.

During her 2022 run for Congress in Maryland’s First District, Mizeur temporarily paused her nonprofit work—but carried its philosophy into every aspect of her campaign. Her motto, “We Are One,” became a call to remember our shared humanity, even in the face of fierce ideological differences.

“We’re humans, often with similar dreams and shared struggles,” she reflects. “Politics has turned into what divides us when our democracy calls us to come forward and work together in ways that allow civil discourse again.”

With the guidance of her board of directors, she expanded the organization under a new name—the We Are One Alliance—to reflect a broader mission encompassing a family of initiatives, each rooted in healing, community, and soulful resistance.

One of the flagship programs is Operation Thriving Acres, a therapeutic horticulture and farm therapy project hosted on Mizeur’s farm outside of Chestertown. Inspired by conversations with veterans during her campaign Mizeur developed a nature-based retreat program that is now drawing interest from across the state.

“When they nurtured something that was living, it helped lower their trauma,” she says. “They were giving their attention to something life-giving instead of life-taking. Politics divides us, but the land heals us.”

Through partnerships with the Maryland chapters of Disabled American Veterans and VFW chaplains, the program has already begun hosting small retreats and gatherings.

Another program, Inward Expeditions, offers immersive group retreats to destinations like Costa Rica, where participants engage in deep reflection, self-care, and leadership training. “Some of this work is done best in community,” she explains, “but there’s also a need for solo journeys of the soul.”

The Sacred Dreams Project extends the Alliance’s reach internationally, through a partnership with Zimbabwean educator and humanitarian Dr. Tererai Trent. Together, they are building water wells, gardens, and sustainable infrastructure for rural schools.

Another cornerstone of the Alliance is the revival of Soul Force Politics as a learning platform. Through online courses, monthly community challenges, and writings published on her Substack (“The Honorable Heather Mizeur”), Mizeur is helping others cultivate inner resilience, clarity, and grounded presence.

Mizeur reimagines the idea of resistance. “Resistance, energetically, doesn’t work,” she says. “When you push against something, it pushes back.” Instead, she offers a path of soulful defiance—one that allows kindness to meet cruelty, calm to meet chaos, and joy to meet despair.

“Our power resides in the pause between stimulus and response,” she explains. “And that’s the army I’m looking to build—people who are ready to respond in non-reactive but fiercely loving ways.”

The We Are One Alliance is, in Mizeur’s words, “a living ecosystem” of hope, restoration, and vision, connecting land, politics, humanity, and the soul.

“At its core,” she says, “our mission is to restore faith in the heart of humanity, one connection at a time.”

The We Are One Alliance has launched weareonealliance.org, a comprehensive portal showcasing its diverse programs, including Soul Force Politics, Inward Expeditions, Operation Thriving Acres, Sacred Dreams Project, and personalized coaching and mentoring. At the heart of the initiative is the “Community” page—an ad-free, algorithm-free, and troll-free private social platform designed to foster meaningful, heart-centered engagement. Beginning in June, the Alliance will introduce “Soulful Challenges” and launch “Soul Force Sundays,” a weekly live video gathering for reflection and support amid challenging times. Supporters can also follow the Alliance’s ongoing work on Substack under T(he Honorable Heather Mizeur). All contributions are tax-deductible, supporting the mission of the We Are One Alliance, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

This video is approximately fifteen minutes in length.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

What’s Native? The Battle over Been Here/Come Here By Nancy Taylor Robson

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Leslie Cario, Adkins Arboretum

What’s really indigenous to a place? We’re talking native plants here. (And ultimately: does native really matter?). OK, first, what’s native?

“If it’s from Asia or South America, it’s not native,” says entomologist Dr. Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home. Lonicera japonica or Miscanthus sinensis tell you by their names that they are not from the Delmarva Peninsula. (It won’t necessarily tell you whether it’s invasive, but that’s a different question).

Human beings have always been about “Oooo! New and shiny!” Our peripatetic species has been hauling botanical specimens home for millenniums to add to our gardens, pharmacies, and tables. Thirty-five hundred years ago, Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt dispatched plant hunters to search for a little something new for the royal gardens. Her plant squad dug, balled, and lugged home 32 incense trees. Tulips from Turkey, potatoes from Peru. We’ve had several thousand years of globalization, so what constitutes ‘been here’ versus ‘come here’ is not always a simple question to answer.

The USDA defines native plants as those that “are the indigenous terrestrial and aquatic species that have evolved and occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, and habitat. Species native to North America are generally recognized as those occurring on the continent prior to European settlement. They represent a number of different life forms, including conifer trees, hardwood trees and shrubs, grasses, forbs, and others.”

To determine indigenous North American species, many in the US look to the plant catalogues compiled by 18th century Philadelphia botanists John Bartram and his son, William. Lewis and Clarke added to those lists during their years-long exploration of the continent following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

It’s a big country, and there are lots of species native to big chunks of it. For example, the white oak (Quercus alba), Maryland’s state tree, is native from Minnesota and Maine to Texas and northern Florida. But will a white oak seedling whose ancestry is in Sheboygan thrive in St Michaels?

“It’s not just: is the plant native to North America?” says Lois deVries, founder of The Sustainable Gardening Institute and The Sustainable Gardening Library, “but: is it suitable for your ecoregion?”

“What’s most important is matching the ecotype provenance,” agrees Tallamy. “It’s native to your region because it’s adapted to your region.”

Sara Tangren at Chesapeake Nurseries

Years ago, during a drought, Dr Sara Tangren, founder of Chesapeake Natives Nursery (now Coordinator for National Capital Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management), noticed the striking difference in ecotypes of the same North American Aster species in her nursery.

“The ones from New England struggled but the ecotypes from here in Maryland were thriving on only the morning dew,” she noted. “That’s ecoregion adaption at work.”

Maryland is blessed with a variety of ecoregions that include several different soil types, which also (obviously) affect the plant colonies that have developed. De Vries, who lives in New Jersey, sees this distinction daily.

“The Great Limestone Valley is right across the street from me,” she says. “That’s a very limey gravely area, and very different plants thrive in that. I’m on Martinsburg shale here, which is very different acid soil with completely different plants.”

But if we’re only looking at plants and soil, we miss the additional connection of animals who are dependent on specific native plants, (we’re talking food web), which is a big reason why native plants as the foundation of the food web matter a lot.

“Some of it is based on the lens we are looking through,” says Leslie Cario, Director of Horticulture and Natural Lands at Adkins Arboretum. Adkins has long been focused on native plants, yet it’s always been in conjunction with the whole ecology of the area. “The people from The Biodiversity Project came out to catalogue what’s here, so it wasn’t just plants; it was insects, and different types of animals. So, it also depends if you’re focusing on conservation or restoration or gardening.”

Deborah Barber. cellophane bee specialist on native Coral Bells (Heuchera)

For Tallamy, who has long promoted the increased use of native plants as a means of restoring shattered biodiversity, it’s ultimately about a plant’s function in a whole community. White oak, for example, supports about 400 different animal species, a huge return on investment (to say nothing of how beautiful they are). So, ‘native’ has to do with a kind of ongoing reciprocity.

“A plant is native when it shares an ecological history with the plants and animals around it,” Tallamy says. “Native plants function better with the things they co-evolved with. It’s how it functions in the environment.”

But it doesn’t mean that all come-here’s are anathema. Come-here’s, when they contribute to the whole, (rather than take over as invasives) are welcome.

“Some people are really strict [about only natives],” notes Tallamy, who is more interested in collective citizenship than in purity.  “I have wood poppies in our yard. They are not strictly native to southeast Pennsylvania, but they function as a native. The deer love them.”

So, it’s complicated. And yes, ultimately, native plants matter enormously. They are vital components of a resilient, healthy (and beautiful) food web, landscape, home, and garden. Some may feel as though native plants restrict their garden choices, but Cario suggests that different individual aesthetic visions can easily dovetail with increasing native plant communities since it also enlarges the total gardening experience.

“Consider your gardening an act of altruism,” she says. “So, we’re not just doing it for ourselves, but to support wildlife around us. Even starting small will make some difference, so people should just try something and replace over time as they find out what works for them and what they enjoy. And I think people, who are looking, will enjoy as much the things coming to visit their garden as they are enjoying their garden.”

 

Resources:

Sustainable Gardening Institute

https://www.sustainablegardeninginstitute.org

Adkins Arboretum

https://www.adkinsarboretum.org

Chesapeake Natives

https://www.chesapeakenatives.org

Homegrown National Park

https://homegrownnationalpark.org

Maryland Native Plant Society

https://www.mdflora.org/plant-id

https://www.mdflora.org/chapters

 

National wildlife website

https://www.nwf.org

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Health For All Seasons with Beth Anne Dorman

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“For a long time, we were the best-kept secret in Kent County,” says Beth Anne Dorman, Executive Director of for All Seasons. Though they’ve been present in Kent County for 15 years and  in local schools for over 17 years, the organization recently launched a visible shift: expanded services, increased public access and “bringing mental health to Main Street” to their new office at 315 High Street.

One of the most transformative changes has been the creation of the Open Access program. “People used to call for services and be told there was a waitlist. That’s just how it was,” Dorman says. “We decided to change that.” Working with national consultants, For All Seasons overhauled its service model. Now, anyone can walk into the office—or join via telehealth—five days a week for immediate mental health support, with psychiatry follow-ups available within two weeks. Open Access is for everyone: children, adults, seniors, and is available in over 500 languages via an interpreting app. Services are provided regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.

“We’ve looked at all five counties that we serve, and we have decided to bring offices to the main streets of all of our locations, so that when people are driving into town, when the community is spending time in these amazing places that we live, people are seeing that mental health matters, that services are available, that victims don’t have to be ashamed, they don’t have to hide that services are available. The beauty of the Open Access program is that it serves children, adolescents, adults and seniors. We serve everyone from a pregnant mom who wants to figure out how to show up to be the kind of parent that she wants to be to a 95 year old gentleman as our oldest client,” Dorman says.

For All Seasons is also the region’s only certified rape crisis center, operating 24/7 in English and Spanish. They provide advocacy at hospitals, schools, and law enforcement agencies, not just during crisis moments but for ongoing care. “You don’t have to be in a current emergency,” Dorman notes. “We serve people dealing with past trauma, no matter how long ago it happened.”

The organization’s work is grounded in four pillars: therapy, psychiatry, rape crisis support, and community education. As a learning center, For All Seasons provides mental health and trauma-informed training for schools, civic groups, businesses, and municipalities. “We just held a Dare to Lead training based on Brené Brown’s work,” says Dorman. “We’re helping leaders show up for their teams, because the mental health of employees matters too.”

Dorman emphasizes that rural communities experience trauma and mental health differently. “It’s not our job to tell communities what they need, but to ask how we can support them.” In Kent County, that means close collaboration with school administrators, local nonprofits like the United Way, and public agencies to ensure children and families get the care they need.

COVID revealed that mental health isn’t just about diagnoses, but about symptoms—grief, loneliness, uncertainty—that affect everyone. “We’re all carrying things,” Dorman says. “It’s okay to not be okay. What matters is that no one has to go through it alone.”

For All Seasons invites everyone to be part of the solution: check in on a friend, reach out when you’re struggling, and remember that connection—just a call or a card—can make all the difference.

For immediate help or support, For All Seasons provides 24/7 crisis hotlines in English and Spanish, as well as walk-in and telehealth services without waitlists.

24-Hour Crisis Hotline:
English Hotline Tel: 410-820-5600
Español Hotline Tel: 410-829-6143
English or Español Text: 410-829-6143

The Spy recently talked with Beth Anne Dorman  about the For All Seasons services available in Kent County.

For more about For All Seasons, go here.

315 High St Suite 207, Chestertown, MD 21620

410-822-1018

 

This video is approximately nine minutes in length.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Monday: Guess the photo

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Happy Mystery Monday!  Can you guess what is pictured below?
The answer to last week’s mystery is white oak, Quercus alba, pictured below:
White oak trees are native to the eastern United States and are usually found in forested areas of dry slopes, valleys, and ravines. It is a large, slow growing, deciduous hardwood tree. White oak does not tolerate wet conditions and is best planted in well-drained sites with rich, moist, acidic loam in full sun.
White oaks are in the beech family, and can reach heights of 135′ with an 80′ spread. These massive and stately shade trees grow in an artistic, wide-spreading habit. The bark of the white oak is light gray, with shallow grooves and flat, loose ridges.
White oak is one of the hardest woods on the planet with beautiful grain. It is very resistant to decay and is one of the best woods for steam bending. A unique feature of the white oak is a honeycomb-shaped film in its cells called “tyloses.” Tyloses swell to fill the vessels of the wood so that they can no longer conduct water, which is why white oak is used to make containers for liquids, like whiskey and wine barrels.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

On point with MD Secretary of Veterans and Military Families Anthony Woods

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Anthony Woods speaks from experience when he talks about his path to becoming Governor Wes Moore’s choice for Maryland Secretary of Veterans and Military Families.

Secretary Woods, a West Point graduate who served for two tours in Iraq, understands the significant challenges of transitioning to civilian life, including physical and mental health concerns, financial struggles, and social reintegration.

Now, two years into his tenure, Woods embraces care for veterans as a moral duty for those who sacrificed for their country and has been focusing on healthcare, employment opportunities, and mental health support to address severe conditions like PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and physical disabilities that, without proper care, could lead to unemployment, homelessness, or even suicide.

“First and foremost, we run a service program where we’ve got accredited claims officers who work at 15 different locations across the state and work virtually to help veterans file their claims to gain access to disability compensation or VA health care. That program is so successful, it’s got a 94% claims acceptance rate. So that means, when you sit down with one of our folks and they submit it to the VA on your behalf, 94% of the time the VA says, yes, this is a good claim.” Woods says.

The Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs has been renamed the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families. Secretary Woods highlights that this name change reflects an expanded mission: the department now formally acknowledges and provides services not only to veterans but also to their families. This shift recognizes the vital role military families play and aims to address their unique needs alongside those of veterans.

“When we say military families, we mean veteran families, of course, active duty military dependents, but also caregivers and survivors. Because we were we have this fundamental belief that if the family thrives, the veteran or the service member thrives too” pointing out that the DoD moves  service members and their families all around the country and all around the world, but it’s up to the state to welcome them into the state and community or the job market.

Recognizing that government alone can’t address every issue, Secretary Woods says that the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families launched Maryland Joins Forces, a partnership initiative with veteran service organizations and military-focused nonprofits. Instead of duplicating efforts at high cost, the program collaborates to tackle key challenges in the veteran community, including employment, education access, housing and food insecurity, and healthcare.

The Spy recently interviewed Secretary Woods about the mission of the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families and addressed other significant issues including the impact of punitive DEI and DoD policies on gays and transgenders in the military.

A day after the interview, The Spy reached out to the Secretary to ask if he had a statement about the recent Department of Defense scrubbing of the Arlington National Cemetery website, which removed links to the histories and lives of veterans of color—both men and women—including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the WWII Navajo codebreakers, Colin Powell, and others.

Secretary Woods replied:
“Erasing the stories and experiences of veterans, regardless of their background, dishonors their sacrifices and distorts the history of our military. It not only overlooks vital contributions but also weakens our ability to recruit and support future service members, who must see themselves reflected in the legacy of those who served. By diminishing the role of any veteran, we diminish the service and sacrifices of all.”
For more about the Maryland Department of Veterans and Military Families, go here.
Secretary Woods, a Army veteran and Bronze Star recipient, served two deployments to Iraq and continues as a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves, assigned to the Joint Staff at the Pentagon as an Intelligence Analyst. In the private sector, he has held key roles at Cisco Systems, The Boston Consulting Group, and Capital One. His public service includes leadership in mission-driven nonprofits, philanthropy, and a White House Fellowship under President Obama. He holds degrees from West Point, Harvard, and the University of Maryland.
This video is approximately 11 minutes in length.

 

 

 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Robert Blackson Takes Helm at Washington College’s Kohl Gallery

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Robert Blackson, a stellar arts advocate and educator who has made significant contributions to the intersection of art, education, and community engagement has been recently welcomed as Director and Curator of the Kohl Gallery at Washington College.

Blackson’s forward-thinking approach to contemporary art is perhaps best showcased through his tenure as Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs at Temple Contemporary, the art gallery of Temple University. There, he pushed the boundaries of public programming with visionary projects like the widely celebrated Symphony for a Broken Orchestra. This groundbreaking initiative addressed a pressing issue: the lack of functional musical instruments in Philadelphia’s public schools, which had significantly hindered students’ access to music education.

To bring attention to the problem, Blackson and his team collected 1,000 broken instruments from local schools, transforming them into a public exhibition. The project’s highlight was a unique performance featuring a composition by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang, performed by local musicians using the damaged instruments. In addition, an ‘adopt an instrument’ campaign was launched, raising funds to repair the instruments and return them to the schools.

This initiative not only restored vital resources for music education but also demonstrated the transformative power of art to rally communities around a common cause.

Now at Washington College, Blackson is set to bring his expertise and passion to the Kohl Gallery, an integral part of the college and Chestertown’s vibrant arts scene. His vision for the gallery includes fostering connections between contemporary art and the local community, ensuring that the space serves as both a cultural hub and a platform for meaningful dialogue.

The gallery is named in honor of Ben and Judy Kohl who supported its creation and has been central to showcasing contemporary art while also engaging with historical and cultural themes. It frequently collaborates with other academic departments, fostering interdisciplinary exploration. Additionally, Kohl Gallery has been instrumental in providing students hands-on experience in curating, art handling, and gallery management.

Here, Rob Blackson discusses his vision of the Kohl Gallery’s role in arts education and curation of the exhibits to come.

Located in Gibson Center for the Arts, Kohl Gallery is Washington College’s flagship venue for visual arts programming.

For more about Kohl Gallery, go here.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Camp New Dawn Prepares for 30th Season: A Chat with Rhonda Knotts and Sherrie Young

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Coming to terms with the loss of a loved one is a traumatic and isolating experience. Dealing with it alone only magnifies its impact and extends the bereavement process and can lead to long-term mental health issues.

For young people especially, processing complex emotions like sadness, anger, fear, and confusion is an overwhelming experience. But it’s one that can often be helped by having their feelings validated in a safe environment with others who are experiencing the same trauma.

Celebrating its 30th year the weekend of August 10th, Compass Regional Hospice will continue its mission to provide grief support at Camp New Dawn and will again host its grief retreat for children, teens, and families on the grounds of Camp Pecometh in Centreville.

The three-day, two-night camp provides children, teens, and families a safe environment for group discussions, participation in healing activities, and connecting with peers with the guidance of professional grief counselors.

Campers ages 7 to 17 attend therapeutic workshops and age-specific grief support groups and participate in supervised camp activities such as swimming, fishing, drumming, yoga, and arts and crafts.

Camp New Dawn Director Rhonda Knotts says that one of the many empowering traditions that has become the heart of the annual summer retreat is the frequency with which campers return as counselors to pass along the experience that helped them through the grieving process.

Each child and teen is paired with a volunteer counselor or “Buddy,” who, along with former campers known as “PALS,” offers a strong support network throughout the day’s activities. Campers are divided into groups and engage in various activities such as yoga, swimming, or fishing. They also participate in age-specific grief support groups or art classes, where they can visualize and express their emotions.

“We are very deliberate in the way that we assign our children, their adult buddy for the three days. We go by common likes, like, maybe we have a little soccer player. And we know that, Joe, who’s one of our adult buddies, loves to kick around the soccer ball, or maybe they had a similar loss. Maybe Joe lost his dad when he was 10. And the little guy we’re going to assign to him, you know, just lost his father or parent. So, there’s a lot of things that go into assigning people to where they’re going to be,” Knotts says.

Compass Regional Day Camp also reaches into the schools in the tri-county area.

“We do a lot of grief support in the schools. Last year, we provided grief support to about 140 kids in all three counties. So, we always make it very clear that it doesn’t have to end there. And sometimes, it works the other way. We get them to camp. And they want to know, well, what else can I do? And we say, well, we can come to your school,” Knotts says.

With extraordinary support from regional businesses and vendors, the camp schedules are carefully planned months in advance. Compass provides training for new counselors and is always looking for additional support.

The Spy recently talked with Camp New Dawn Director Rhonda Knotts and adult grief counselor Sherrie Young.

To find out more about Compass Regional Hospice’s Camp New Dawn, how to contribute, or volunteer, go here.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length.

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Mystery Monday: Guess the Pic!

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The answer to last week’s mystery is damselfly, pictured below:
Damselflies are often mistaken for dragonflies, but these insects are smaller, slimmer, and fold their wings against their bodies while at rest.
Damselflies are admired for their beautiful colors and forms, making them a popular insect to photograph. They are large, easy to observe, and have exceptionally charming, playful antics. Damselflies do not sting or bite, making them completely harmless to humans.
In its larval stage, a damselfly molts many times under water before moving on to land, where it transforms into a winged adult. Adult damselflies eat mainly flying insects, like gnats and mosquitos.
Damselflies live for a few weeks during the summer and fall, and fly mainly during the day. They have existed since the Late Jurassic, and are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Adkins Arboretum Awarded Environmental Education Grant from Chesapeake Bay Trust

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Adkins Arboretum was recently awarded a three-year environmental education grant from Chesapeake Bay Trust. It will support curriculum development, Arboretum field trips and more for seven Caroline County seventh-grade teachers and 1,200 students. Photo by Mike Morgan.

Adkins Arboretum has been awarded a three-year environmental education grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust in support of its “Eating the Sun” project. The goal of this project is to embed a systemic, Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience in Caroline County Public Schools’ seventh grade life science curriculum. The project will support curricular development, teacher professional development, school ground visits, field experiences at Adkins and action project support for approximately seven teachers and 1,200 seventh graders over the three-year period.

Through a combination of classroom lessons, schoolyard exploration and Adkins field experiences, students will find answers to the driving question, “How do native plants transfer energy to other living organisms and contribute to healthy ecosystems?” Projected activities include conducting experiments to observe how leaves release oxygen and water as part of photosynthesis, identifying native plants and wildlife in a forest food web scavenger hunt, making inferences about whether an animal is a carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore based on its skull structure and collecting data about keystone and indicator species in the Arboretum’s forest and wetland.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “The Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience (MWEE) is a learner-centered framework that focuses on investigations into local environmental issues and leads to informed action.” MWEEs actively engage students through hands-on, outdoor learning in order to connect students with their local environment and empower them to take actions that contribute to stronger, more sustainable communities.

A 400-acre native garden and plant preserve, Adkins Arboretum offers five miles of paths that showcase more than 600 species of native plants. Admission is free thanks to member support. The Arboretum’s mission is to provide exceptional experiences in nature to promote environmental stewardship. Youth education programs like “Eating the Sun” are a key component of this mission and engage approximately 4000 students each year. To learn more, visit adkinsarboretum.org.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.