24th Annual Earth Wellness Festival
Lincoln Public Schools and a host of community education partners held the 24th annual Earth Wellness Festival at Southeast Community College on March 20-21.
The event drew roughly 3,000 Lancaster County fifth-graders to the college’s Lincoln campus for a series of creative and hands-on lessons in the areas of water, land, air and living resources. Examples of sessions included: Reptiles and Amphibians of Nebraska; Watershed Mayhem; Turtle Talk; Worm Wrangling; Endangered!; and Wow Wind!
Students also saw firsthand a barred owl, vulture, bald eagle and Johnny the serval from Lincoln Children’s Zoo. A serval is a medium-sized African wild cat native to sub-Saharan Africa.
Festival organizers worked closely with LPS and other districts to ensure the activities and materials correspond with their fifth-grade curriculum. The 300 volunteers and presenters included educators, environmentalists and government representatives.
The entities who worked together to make the festival possible are:
- Lincoln Public Schools
- Lower Platte South Natural Resources District
- Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County
- Keep Lincoln and Lancaster County Beautiful
- Lincoln/Lancaster County Health Department
- Southeast Community College-Lincoln
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Environmental Studies Program
University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Natural Resources
Published: March 22, 2018, Updated: March 22, 2018