Some classes have designed and sold T-shirts and bookmarks. The materials are distributed as part of a pre-field trip packet to other elementary schools planning a visit to the park. In the winter, rangers visit Wesson to discuss environmental topics. The school has planted its own butterfly garden on campus and the students compare notes on its ecology with the rangers at the park. And this year, Wakulla Middle School joined the PARKnership program at Wakulla Springs.
Students plan to compile a book of stories and legends associated with the park.
They'll also study videotapes of the narrated boat tour and practice doing it for themselves. Eventually they'll act as tour guides for other student tours, further reinforcing their own understanding of the park's plants and animals. The PARKnership program received a 1997 Governor's Environmental Education Award, as well as the National Society for Park Resources William Penn Mott Jr. Award for Excellence in October. The accolades seem well placed. At Wesson Elementary, the younger grades grew sunflowers in a butterfly garden at the school.