Living in Northern Michigan allows kids the chance to experience Michigan’s beauty and the outdoors daily and a state-funded program is looking to make sure that is the case for every fourth-grader in the state. In the fiscal year 2024 budget, signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in June 2023, the state allocated $8 million over two years to establish the Nature Awaits program.
The program provides every Michigan fourth-grader with a free field trip to a state park. This includes the cost of transportation. With last spring the first chance for students to partake in the program and the new school year starting soon, the Department of Natural Resources is gearing up for a busy fall that will include many of these field trips.
To help implement the program, the Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center hired a second interpreter who will be in charge of the Nature Awaits program at the center. According to the DNR, the Nature Awaits program is open to all fourth-grade classrooms and each class will have the opportunity to visit a state park free of charge for a 90-minute experiential education program.
The field trip will be facilitated by trained educators focused on meeting fourth-grade curriculum standards including science, social studies, physical fitness and language arts through experiential learning outdoors. Guided by environmental literacy best practices, the program also aims to make sure Michigan’s kids learn state parks are for everyone and that a lifetime of spen.