Overview
- The AAPS Environmental Education Program has educated K-6 students about the natural environment by taking them on field trips that enhance classroom curriculum for about 55 years. Dave Szczygiel, Environmental Education Consultant for Ann Arbor Public Schools, is retiring after 38 years of teaching. Many students credit him with sparking their interest in the natural world and the environment.
- AAPS pioneered environmental education as part of the core curriculum long before it was commonplace nationally.
- Ann Arbor Public Schools faces an epic budget shortfall in 2024, but thus far, cuts to environmental education have not been approved. Dave has been helping to develop the Freeman Environmental Education Center initiative for Ann Arbor Public Schools. (Source: https://www.michiganpublic.org/education/2024-05-21/layoffs-budget-cuts-approved-for-ann-arbor-public-schools)
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and while it's been a most difficult time in the Ann Arbor Public School district of late, there are positives worthy of our attention. I'm David Fair, and welcome to this week's edition of Issues of the Environment. The environmental education program at the Ann Arbor schools has been running for 55 years. It's been educating kindergartners through sixth graders with hands-on environmental experience, educational field trips, and exposure to the natural world. For 38 of those years. Dave Szczygiel has been there. After nearly four decades of impacting the lives of children as environmental education consultant, Dave is retiring. So, it's a good time to reflect and to look forward as well. I'm so glad you could make some time for us today, Dave. I appreciate it.
Dave Szczygiel: Well, thanks for having me here.
David Fair: I hesitate to ask. But are you retiring because this was the best time and decision for you or was your hand kind of forced because of the district's budget shortfall?
Dave Szczygiel: People do ask me that periodically. And actually, it's for me.
David Fair: Okay. Good.
Dave Szczygiel: I have three three-year-old granddaughters that really want my attention more and more.
David Fair: I truly understand. It appears that the Environmental Education Program is going to remain intact despite the budget hardships in Ann Arbor. And I assume that that's a real relief for you.
Dave Szczygiel: It is. We were very happy to see that. And we'd like to continue our mission on and get the program back to K through 12, like we've had at the beginning when we started nearly 60 years ago.
David Fair: Well, what first brought you to the program nearly four decades ago?
Dave Szczygiel: Well, you know, for the first ten years in Ann Arbor, I taught that course. So, I really only have about 28 years under the environmental ed program.
David Fair: Yeah. '98 is when you started there, right?
Dave Szczygiel: Right. But I started teaching middle school back in '86. And so, I was a very generalist. I taught life science and physical sciences. So, I worked at the Y. I taught many different grade levels. And so, that all put me together as the biggest generalists in the district to go out and have a great opportunity to teach K through six at that time.
David Fair: In all of that experience in the classroom at Forsythe, through the Environmental Educational Program, it's estimated you've taught some 30,000 kids in Ann Arbor. Many have come forward to testify as to how you've positively impacted their lives. How have the kids through the years impacted you?
Dave Szczygiel: Well, it's never boring for me. I enjoy meeting all those people, and each one brings something new to me to learn. And so, it's been a great career for me to just branch out and really see all the different schools and all the different kids that go to school there. And so, I really enjoy our daily adventure. Even though I might be doing the same activity, it's the people that make it for me.
David Fair: Our Issues of the Environment conversation with Dave Szczygiel continues on 89 one WEMU. Dave is retiring after 38 years in the Ann Arbor School District, and he's been working as an environmental education consultant in a leadership position since 1998. Now, getting those kids out of the classroom and into nature presents a variety of, well, challenges, but opportunities as well. What have been your favorite field trips and experiences to share with the children?
Dave Szczygiel: Yeah, I really like it when the kids don't have a lot of academic experience with the outdoors. And so, they come to me at different levels, and they are often in a-ha moment where they'll say, "Well, this is the best thing I've ever done in my life!" or "I've never done this before!" And they're very engaged and interested. And that's what I like about them being in the field with me.
David Fair: I can absolutely rate. I remember my first whitewater rafting experience down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. That changed not only my relationship to the environment and to nature, but my life perspective. In your course of teaching and engaging with the children, did you see that kind of transformative experience for someone that stands out to you?
Dave Szczygiel: Oh, there's so many! It happens every week. I see so many students--10,000 in a year. And so, every week brings me the same opportunity where there's something the child is learning, and I get to see the light come on for them, or that joy in being out in nature.
David Fair: Am I correct in believing there is a legacy? And the Ann Arbor Public Schools can certainly be considered visionary for launching a green program long before green was cool.
Dave Szczygiel: That is really true! That was something that really stuck and people enjoyed it, and it was necessary--things that we needed to get students to understand about the world. And now, we can go forward with new concepts, like sustainability and climate change. And it's just a good way to get kids out in the environment, appreciate it, understand it, take data and then advocate for it.
David Fair: Once again, you're listening to Issues of the Environment on 89 one WEMU. And we're talking with retiring Ann Arbor Schools environmental education consultant and teacher Dave Szczygiel. And, Dave, you're retiring at a relatively young age. So, I imagine that you are going to continue to be involved in some way, given your positive experience with the kids and with teaching in the Ann Arbor schools. Are you going to remain involved in any official capacity or on a volunteer basis?
Dave Szczygiel: Oh, yes. You know, I always tell my naturalists that volunteer for the program that they all lived to be 90 years old, because that's how good this volunteering is. So, I have to listen to my own words. I'll probably be back to volunteer at some point. So, yes. It's not something that I'm going to let go. It's a good time to retire, so I don't have to go and do all the things 9 to 5. But I'll be back in some capacity, I'm sure. I might have to travel a little bit.
David Fair: As well you should. Now, what are your hopes for the Environmental Education Program itself or the Freeman Environmental Education Center, as that continues to evolve into the future in the Ann Arbor School District?
Dave Szczygiel: Yes. Really, I hope those things all go. And my understanding is that the district is committed to that, and they're going to maintain it. So, I'm really happy to get the program back to K through 12. And so, yeah, I can't think of a better way to serve the district.
David Fair: So, you mentioned this. The children that are learning in the Ann Arbor schools about the environment today are going to be the adults that make the decisions and help determine how we best adapt to and deal with the climate crisis. What level of interest are you seeing in today's kids that gives you hope and optimism for the future?
Dave Szczygiel: Right. There's so much more interest today in those ideas about sustainability. I mean, we have a youth council now that Mr. Ambrosino leads, and that probably wouldn't have existed 40 years ago. There wasn't that level of interest in activism for the environment. And so this is a good time where students show an interest of being involved and understanding climate and trying to do things to affect it, to look at how we're living in a sustainable way. So, it's sort of a new era, and new words are coming up. I remember conservationism when I was growing up and then environmentalism, and now it's sustainability. So, there's sort of a progression, and we have a new group of young people that are interested in that.
David Fair: I want to ask you one more question. You mentioned that, as you step into retirement, you're so looking forward to spending time with your grandchildren. And you also mentioned you hope to make some time to travel. What is going to be your first retirement trip?
Dave Szczygiel: Well, it won't be too far away. Probably somewhere in Michigan. But I might have to go to the Bahamas because the family--my grandchildren's family--lives there. And so, you know, I might have to go.
David Fair: Might have to go? You made it sound like a burden.
Dave Szczygiel: Yeah.
David Fair: Well, I hope you enjoy. I'd like to not only thank you for your time today, Dave, but I'd like to thank you for your dedication to environmental education and to teaching children. Congratulations on your retirement!
Dave Szczygiel: Oh, thank you very much! I appreciate that!
David Fair: That is Dave Szczygiel. He is stepping away from his role in the Ann Arbor schools after 38 years. If you'd like more information on our conversation today, just pay a visit to our website when you get a minute. You'll find it at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. And you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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