Understanding Blackacre

Acknowledgments, Recognition, and Thanks

Acknowledgments
The following people have helped to create this book. They are introduced to the readers as they share their most memorable experiences at Blackacre or tell why they think this type of learning is so important.

Pam Boykin
Middle School Instructional Support
As societal issues become more complex with many interrelated problems, Blackacre takes on an even more important role in providing a basis or grounding for student decision making.

Al Dittmer
University of Louisville Department of Secondary Education
Standing on the gravel road at the back of the property on a cool afternoon surrounded by the bright fall colors and sweet leaf scents, I watch a rumbling freight train bear down the road crossing.

Connie Farmer
Seneca High School Magnet Career Academy
I have always enjoyed the Folk Life Sampler, whether I’m with my family and friends, students, or by myself. It’s uplifting to separate yourself from modern technology and experience farm life as it “used to be.” There are opportunities to sing, dance in the barn, carve pumpkins, eat, hike, and just have a good ole` time.

Donna Griffin
Resource Teacher, Jefferson County Public Schools Center for Environmental Education
What better classroom could there be?

Ron Gustafson
Jeffersontown High School, Magnet Career Academy
The trip to Blackacre started off since I, a newly hired teacher to the District, needed professional-development credit. So I signed up for eight hours of Project Wild. We did many activities, but the one I still use is “Oh Deer,” a role-playing game where students play as if they are deer in the environment.

Betty Hansel
Price Elementary School
Blackacre offers children a chance to see a living, working farm, often for the first time in their lives. It provides a real, hands-on experience with history, science, and nature’s wonders, in a way that is, as one eight-year-old put it, “The most fun I’ve ever had in school.”

Jan Krekel
Churchill Park School
There is no greater joy than to have a nonverbal student communicate for the first time while problem solving with his/her peers! Everyone has differing abilities, and Blackacre is a classroom for teaching all.

Joe Leffert
Cane Run Elementary School
The great thing I observed in my students was their ability to overachieve in leading others and solving problems due to their interaction with the total Blackacre: historically and ecologically. The best thing I remember about Blackacre is seeing my kids smile and feel good about themselves as they taught younger peers. The interaction with the Preserve boosted their self-esteem and their value in the world.

Ellen Lewis
Writing Portfolio Unit
Preserving the environment is essential toward the preservation of the future of humanity. Blackacre experiences establish the groundwork for the belief to become a reality for our next generation.

Holly Nolan
Highland Middle School
Over the years, my best experience at Blackacre has been consistently witnessing the cooperative effort among high, middle, and elementary school students in a positive, nurturing environment—kids learning to learn from one another and enjoying it.

Meryl Becker Prezocki
Cardinal Treatment Center
From student comments: They don’t have to flush toilets. It was the best field trip we had all year. I didn’t know a barn would smell like this. Can we stay in the hayloft the whole time? Do we have to go back to school now? Children and grandparents share stories and the experiences of enjoying a day at Blackacre.

Jack Still
Louisville Nature Center
I remember the barn loft, storytelling, and rainy orienteering experiences.

Bryan Thompson
Naturalist, Jefferson County Public Schools Center for Environmental Education
I enjoyed wading through the crowds at the Folk Life Sampler and seeing a diversity of representatives from the community, including environmental organizations, the public, teachers, and students involved in learning and teaching about the environment.

David Wicks
Jefferson County Public Schools Center for Environmental Education
Blackacre is a link to the past, to our natural world, to a place for reflection and meditative thought. It is about inspiring young people to become engaged in the world in which they live.

Recognition and Thanks
LOJIC (The Louisville/Jefferson County Information Consortium)
LOJIC has provided the maps in this book. For information on LOJIC, call 540-6000.

Materials Production Staff for designing this online publication.

Joyce Bender and David Skinner, Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission, for the eternal protection of the land known as Blackacre.

Gwynne Potts, President, Blackacre Foundation and Foundation Board Members for their unselfish dedication to the land and their vision of preservation/restoration of our history.

Deborah Walker, Joan Cole, Caroline Pinné, Laura Clifford, Leigh Jacobus, Rita Peterson, Linda Gray, and Kathleen Nichter for providing guidance to ensure that our work supports and is infused with the JCPS Vision...Beyond 2000.

Kandris Wunderlich for her enthusiastic support of the staff and programs of the JCPS Center for Environmental Education.

Jefferson County Government/Community Gardening Program for being a good neighbor and for their work in engendering a sense of stewardship in our entire community.

Jim Fegengush/Bill Kaufman and the staff of JCPS Division of Facilities/Transportation for providing transportation of students and their help in maintaining the infrastructure of Blackacre.