On Wednesday, April 11, land will be broken for an elementary school at the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach.
The Pine Jog Site opened in 1960 and became associated with the College of Education of FAU in 1970. It offers a Masters Degree program, which allows teachers to implement the environment into their lessons.
The school will occupy 15 acres of the site and become part of the Palm Beach County School District. It will be the first “green public school” in South Florida. Meeting “Green Building standards,” the school will recycle materials (such as the cut down trees for furniture), use water and energy efficiency, and use materials that do not emit toxins.
Center Director Pat Welch says that the center will be able to work directly with 970 students on a daily basis.
“It will have very huge impact on the children,” Welch says of the plans for the school.
In return for providing the land needed for the school, the Pine Jog Site will receive a 15,000 sq. ft. two floor facility to replace its current 47-year-old building. The new facility will feature an office, an auditorium, a library, a laboratory, a gift shop and a 2-story exhibition hall that will focus on sustainability. By expanding education abilities, the new facility will aid the center in achieving its goal.
“We want to create environmental champions,” Welch says.
The center’s mission is to “lead people to take positive action for the benefit of the environment,” Welch says.
Pine Jog, one of the oldest environmental centers in the nation, recently opened its trails to the public last month.
The natural site offers eight trail systems for the public to enjoy freely. The twists and turns of the 150 acre center trek visitors through four biotic communities: pine- flatwoods, field and hammock, pond and sawgrass marsh. Being as natural as possible, the hiking trails are unpaved, and the mesh-of-greens are naturally present in the center. In construction is a wooden boardwalk which allows trail goers to experience the pond. The protected gopher tortoises, rabbits, raccoons, and possums can all be found naturally on the site.
The Pine Jog Environmental Education Center is located at 6301 Summit Boulevard, West Palm Beach, Fla. 333415. For more information on the center, call 561-686-6600.
