Nov 12, 2012

1990s: The Era of Raptor Challenge


Executive Director Cynthia Lenhart (center) hired
Keith Bildstein in 1998 as Dir of Research & Education

Researched and Compiled by
Jeremy Scheivert
Education Coordinator


Following Brett’s departure and continuing into the 1990s, leadership shifted from volunteers to interns. I joined the staff in 1996 and two years later Director of Research and Education Keith Bildstein restructured the field trip experience. Building on Nagy’s thoughts of yesteryear, off-site civic and scholastic programs were phased out, placing a renewed emphasis that the best
education opportunities happen on the grounds of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.

"The Return of Magic" marked the first publication that combined Hawk Mountain
education aimed at young people with Hawk Mountain conservation science.

Interns present "Tracking and Trapping,"
a new program that teaches visitors how
biologists study long-distance migrants.
Field trips focused more on raptors and raptor migration both in spring and autumn then perhaps ever before, a trend that reflected not only the interconnectedness of Sanctuary Conservation Science and Education during this period, but also the fine tuning of the Sanctuary’s mission. Over the next decade the department produced downloadable resources on the web, the first Hawk Mountain children’s book (pictured above), kestrel nestbox building instructions, a series of raptor species accounts, a guide to the North Lookout Trail, a new weekend program by interns to share raptor study techniques (see photo at right).

The 21st Century brought "Nature Deficit Disorder," makred by fewer children than ever before spending time indoors. Increasingly, local schools faced decreasing field trip budgets. Although Hawk Mountain never once lacked student, civic, social or scholastic groups to lead, for the first time, demand hit a plateau and many schools could not promise students a full four-hour visit.

In 2006, President Lee Schisler Jr. replaced Cynthia Lenhart and brought with him yet a new focus on education in the form of "Raptor Challenge."  The new program offered a series of age-appropriate lessons on raptors for both overlooked and underserved students. Partnering with four school districts and their teachers, the program developed lessons on raptors into core disciplines (math, science, geography, and social sciences), then offered an in-class program along with a follow-up, on-site visit for all third graders.

Pre- and post-testing appealed to the Department of Education, and over the next four years, the program was financially successfull, raising significant new funds for this pilot outeach program.  

The 60s and 70s: an era of educational growth



Fred Wetzel  (left with Broun, right)
led The Summer Institute in 1969

Over the next decade guided field trips evolved to provide options beyond a one-day visit. In the 1969-70 Annual Report, Joseph Taylor highlights The Summer Institute, an ecology course for inner city students designed to “get interests aroused so that they would know something other than the city streets,” Taylor wrote. Directed by Fred Wetzel (pictured at right) and held for 12 days during late June, students spent two nights at the shelters, hiked more than ten miles each day, and fished at the Nagy ponds.

It would be in 1971 when demand finally exceeded staff resources, and a collection of tape recorded walks were provided to groups who could not reserve a guided walk.

Nagy that year stressed a strong belief in the importance of on-site programs.
“We feel we can do a much better job at the sanctuary, where they can observe nature in action,” Alex Nagy wrote to the membership.
Jim Brett assumes responsibility for
education programming in 1971.
That year Jim Brett joined the staff, and assumed responsibility for education programming. A professionally trained educator, Brett placed strong emphasis on preparation, focused learning within a number of natural history topics, and the importance of recruiting expert volunteers to share responsibilities. In 1972 Brett wrote,
“The days of small education instruction at Hawk Mountain are drawing to a close, unless we make some pronounced changes in our education set-up.”  
To that end, he developed pre-visit tips, study guides, and other materials that later evolved into the first Teacher’s Guide to Hawk Mountain, and he paid close attention to best practices in education programs.

More than a decade following the early insight from Jim Brett, Hawk Mountain saw considerable increase in staff and the development of a formal education program, as well as the overall growth in the stature of Hawk Mountain. The education department prepared lessons and materials, developed natural history courses for
adult groups and school teachers, and observed an increase in summer and winter group visits.

Nov 1, 2012

Nature interpretation

Pennsylvania Game Commission visit
Researched and Compiled
by Jeremy Scheivert
Education Coordinator
Read Blog Post #1
By 1957 school field trips became common, and groups traveled a noticeable distance.

“We received 1,810 persons in 99 organized groups who came by special arrangement, from local communities, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and Maryland to enjoy our guided tours or interpretive lectures on the natural history of the mountain,” Broun wrote.

Reading through member updates, I realized this was the same year Broun for the first time referred to his talks as “interpretive.” Interestingly enough it was during that same year that father of interpretation Freedman Tilden published his Interpreting Our Heritage.

Francis Trembley
1964 heralded the first Natural History and Ecology Workshop, a joint venture between Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and Lehigh University. The workshop continued for more than a decade under Sanctuary director and Lehigh University professor Francis Trembley, and represented the continuous use of the Sanctuary as an outdoor learning laboratory.

The next year Maurice Broun’s tenure came to a close but he would leave behind a thriving field trip program. Broun mentioned in 1965 that on one day alone he saw a group of local sixth graders, a Muhlenberg College ornithology class, a group of children from a local State hospital, and a busload of senior citizens from the Philadelphia Center for Older People.


Maurice Broun and Alex Nagy

“By way of contrast, we received more than 200 eager-beaver under-privileged youngsters from Philadelphia. They came in 13 groups from nearby Camp Lighthouse. Most of these boys and girls had never climbed a mountain; they had never seen a deer, nor a hummingbird. New horizons! And a joy to us, to witness the intense interest and pleasure that registered on the faces of these young people from the big city,” he wrote.
Alex Nagy took the reigns as curator in the latter half of the 1960s at the same time Joseph Taylor succeeded Peter Edge as Board President.
“Over 3,000 guests composed of school classes, scouts and adults in 59 organized nature walks consumed much of [Assistant Curator] Fred Wetzel’s time and energy this spring,” Nagy wrote in 1969.

1934: Education Begins

Maruice Broun speaks to gatherers at the Lookout rocks
Researched and Compiled by
Jeremy Scheivert, Education Coordinator

Reprinted in part from
Hawk Mountain News, Autumn 2009

Education is multi-dimensional and complex as a food web, so its little surprise that Hawk Mountain has used many vehicles to share its message over the past 78 years.

In 1934—the Mountain’s founding year—Maurice Broun began a tradition of simple interaction with the curious and the campers.

In 1939 supporters received the first written record of activity in its News Letter to Members by Mrs. Edge, wherein she shared a strong belief that when groups visited Hawk Mountain they would take a greater understanding of raptors and nature. Throughout the 1940s Maurice Broun interacted extensively with a growing number of such groups…

Sanctuary founder Rosalie Edge
“Scout Groups, boys and girls, and hiking clubs came to avail themselves of our excellent camping facilities, and to enjoy the Curator’s guided tours and informal talks,” Mrs. Edge wrote in 1948.
Broun’s talks, she shared, “have become a feature of interest” and the 1948 newsletter included the first list of visits made by advance arrangement.

The 1950s were a time of enhancement. Schaumboch’s received electricity in 1952, allowing the Brouns to present even more programs on the back porch, and the staff broke ground for the Common Room.

May 1954 a group of 26 Pottstown Girl Scout leaders learned “nature-guiding methods,” the first record of educator training. That autumn, Maurice commended David Karraker of the National Park Service who assisted at North Lookout, marking what may be the first education volunteer in what we now call “the Counter’s Pit.”

The following spring, the first public building opened in time to host Hawk Mountain’s 20th Anniversary. The wood and stone structure would serve multiple purposes, and so was called The Common Room. Part staff residence and part meeting area and lecture hall, the building still stands six decades later, but was being underutilized.

Upgrades initiated in 2011 returned a focus to Hawk Mountain education programming, and to resurrecting and improving the space to transform into a true headquarters for raptor education. But we’re jumping ahead of ourselves…

Photo at left, the 20th Anniversary celebration at the newly opened Common Room.