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Dominion has awarded a $10,000 K-12 Education grant for the development of an environmental education curriculum inspired by Tom Wisner’s Center for the Chesapeake Story Collection (Chestory). The Calvert Marine Museum (CMM), in partnership with the Chesapeake Education, Arts, and Research Society (CHEARS), and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) will work with selected teachers in Calvert and St. Mary’s counties to create hands-on classroom-based lesson plans that focus on local environmental science. 

Tom Wisner (1930-2010), co-founder of Chestory, was a poet, folklorist, artist, singer, and Maryland’s first environmental educator.  He spent most of his career helping students and audiences make connections with the Chesapeake Bay. Wisner left behind a lifetime of work including interdisciplinary educational activities, lessons, programs, artwork and music.  Through a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Chesapeake Conservation Corps program, CMM and CHEARS partnered to hire Concetta Laskey, who organized, catalogued and archived Wisner’s collection. In April 2012, the Chestory Virtual Archive became a reality at the Calvert Marine Museum and is available at http://www.chesapeake-envliteracy.com/CVA.

Dominion’s support will provide not only for the creation of environmental education lesson plans, but for the piloting of this curriculum in the classroom. Eventually this will be shared with other teachers and available online.