WALDORF, Md. – Westlake High School is for the birds on Saturday, April 18, when the school’s Environmental Club hosts its second Bird Festival.
The free event will celebrate owls with arts and crafts, children’s activities like storytelling and a puppet theater, live bird demonstrations, games, guest speakers, an art show featuring the work of Westlake students and birding field trips along the school’s tree-lined walking paths.
Last year, the club’s event focused on urban birds. This year’s focus on owls — specifically the eight species found in Maryland — is in response to raptors being threatened or endangered as the loss of their habitats has grown.
“Birds are very important to our environment,” Belicia Fernandez Fuentes, a sophomore, said. “Some work as pollinators, some as pest control. They definitely play a big role in our ecosystem.”
Elliot Lopez, a Westlake science teacher and sponsor of the Environmental Club, said the theme highlights the ecological service of owls, but will feature information and activities about all birds. Organizations are teaming up with the club to help out including Wild Birds Unlimited, the Alice Ferguson Foundation, environmental education nonprofit Echoes of Nature, the Nanjemoy Creek Environmental Education Center, Charles County Soil Conservation District and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Environmental Club members at Westlake work during the school year to promote CCPS’s recycling program, iRecycle Smart, take part in the annual Charles County Envirothon and hope to participate in cultivating plants and produce once its greenhouse is repaired and a grant comes through to add a vegetable garden to the school’s courtyard.
Learning about ecosystems and green practices today prepares students to be better stewards of Earth, sophomore Zuri Wright said. “It’s important to bring awareness to the environment,” she said.
The event will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, April 18, with several activities for children and adults. Visitors should enter through the school cafeteria entrance. Westlake is at 3300 Middleton Road in Waldorf.
About CCPS
Charles County Public Schools provides 27,904 students in grades prekindergarten through 12 with an academically challenging education. Located in Southern Maryland, Charles County Public Schools has 38 schools that offer a technologically advanced, progressive and high-quality education that builds character, equips for leadership and prepares students for life, careers and higher education.
The Charles County public school system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability in its programs, activities or employment practices.
For inquiries, please contact Dr. Mike Blanchard, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 coordinator (students), or Nikial M. Majors, Title IX/ADA/Section 504 coordinator (employees/adults), at Charles County Public Schools, Jesse L. Starkey Administration Building, P.O. Box 2770, La Plata, MD 20646; 301-932-6610/301-870-3814. For special accommodations, call 301-934-7230 or TDD 1-800-735-2258 two weeks prior to the event.
CCPS provides nondiscriminatory equal access to school facilities in accordance with its Use of Facilities rules to designated youth groups (including, but not limited to, the Boy Scouts).