On Friday, April 14, Georgia’s First Lady, Sandra Deal, visited with students in an after-school program at High Point Elementary School in Sandy Springs.
The students have participated in the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s five-week after-school program designed to increase knowledge and wonder about Georgia’s forests. The program included content and activities to introduce 3rd-5th grade students to the importance of Georgia’s 22 million acres of working forests.
The Georgia Forestry Foundation collaborated with CNC to create the program and bring it to ten elementary schools in metro Atlanta. Students got up-close and personal with Georgia wildlife like snakes, turtles and hawks and took home native tree seedlings donated by the Georgia Forestry Commission. They also helped plant a tree on school grounds and met industry professionals to talk about careers in forestry.
Mrs. Deal read “The Tree Farmer,” a book by Chuck Leavell, to the students at High Point Elementary. The First Lady has read to students in more than 700 schools in all 159 counties and all 180 school districts, encouraging each child to love reading and to become life-long learners. Like her husband Governor Nathan Deal, Mrs. Deal believes a good education is the key to future success.
The program is partially funded by a grant from the Weyerhaeuser Giving Fund to the Georgia Forestry Foundation.