Sarah Baier leads a discussion during a field trip. Photo provided.

WINONA LAKE – At the start of the 2019-20 school year, Sarah Baier, an educational program specialist at the Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams, set a high bar for the Lilly Center’s destination field trip program: Host 1,000 K-12 students by the end of the school year.

With close to three months left in the year, that goal will quickly be exceeded. All told, the center plans to host 62 individual classrooms and almost 1,500 K-12 students.

Destination field trips are designed for kindergarten-through-third grade classrooms. Several programs for other grade levels are also in process, including customizable lessons for high school students. Although all slots for 2019-20 are full, email Sarah Baier at [email protected] to learn about options for the 2020-21 school year.

While at the Lilly Center, students experience a wide variety of lessons based on original curriculum, spanning fish camouflage and habitats to erosion and food webs. Using a variety of learning tools (including aquariums full of native fish) to connect kids to their local environment, destination field trips also give teachers access to the virtual aquarium and augmented reality sand tables. Teachers can choose one or any combination of the stations at their grade level, according to what best supplements their existing curriculum.

To learn more about the station options, teacher tools and scheduling for 2020-21, visit lakes.grace.edu/education or email Sarah Baier at [email protected]. For more information about the Lilly Center, call 574-372-5100, ext. 6445.

The Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams at Grace College conducts research, provides resources, engages and educates residents, and collaborates with local organizations to make the lakes and streams of Kosciusko County clean, healthy, safe and beautiful. For more information, visit lakes.grace.edu.