“I thought it wasn’t really going to be an experience that changed me. When we were silent looking down on top of the bluff, it really had an impact on me.”

“My favorite thing was sitting by ourselves at Swift Creek Bluffs doing the listening activity because I realized how much you could hear if you were really quiet and paid attention.”

Through a partnership with TLC, Partners for Environmental Justice, and the Center for Human-Earth Restoration, Exploris Middle School students participated in weekly restoration ecology and nature awareness activities at Swift Creek Bluffs Nature Preserve (SCB). CORES provided 68 eighth graders with weekly field trips to a TLC site where over 70 garbage bags of Japanese honeysuckle were removed to release the native spring wildflowers in the floodplain.         

“I feel a strange sense of calm each time we come to Swift Creek Bluffs.”

“During [our time at] Swift Creek Bluffs we have done nature journaling activities.  In these activities we learn to look at nature another way.  The activities all depend on the week and what is blooming.  One week we went out and did a trust exercise.  Not just any trust exercise, this trust exercise was different.  We had to lead a partner to a plant, flower, or tree with their eyes closed. I have really liked being outside and learning about new plants and animals that are native to North Carolina.  I was really surprised at how fun and easy these nature journaling activities are.”