By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

CAMDEN, Ohio — Most any time of year the 80-acre grounds at Pleasant Vineyard near Camden are quite serene. But on the first Thursday in May the grounds look more like a school bus parking lot as more than 600 sixth-grade students from schools in Preble County celebrate Earth Day in hands-on fashion.

Each first Thursday in May all sixth-grade students in Preble County head to Pleasant Vineyard to learn about soil conservation, soils, Ohio trees, recycling practices, water pollution, trapping, forestry, honeybees, fossils, water quality, wildlife management, prairie grasses and much more.

“The students are seeing many things that they wouldn’t normally see in a classroom setting,” said Preble County Soil and Water Conservation District Technician B.J. Price. “It’s a very hands-on experience. We like the students to know what conservation really is and want them to make wise use of these natural resources.”
Among the 60 volunteers at this event were surveyors, beekeepers, soil conservation specialists, fossil experts, farmers, FFA students and Native Americans.

On cue from the blare of a loud bull horn, the students rotated among 25 stations every 20 minutes, allowing them to study six subjects in the two-hour period.

“Fewer and fewer kids nowadays come from the farms and this gives those students a better understanding about the environment they live in and how to respect that environment,” Price said.
This was the 12th year for the annual event in Preble County.
Celebrated in the United States on April 22, Earth Day is designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the earth’s environment. It was founded by the late U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) as an environmental teach-in in 1970, and is celebrated in many countries every year.