Cumming Nature Center acquires the Walden Project – NY

The Rochester Museum & Science Center’s Cumming Nature Center has expanded its outdoor education offerings with the acquisition of the Walden Project – New York. The Walden Project is integrated into the suite of outdoor Forest School educational opportunities for students offered by the nature center.

The Walden Project is a full-time high school and gap-year program inspired by the life and writings of Henry David Thoreau. The program provides an interdisciplinary education in an outdoor setting with an emphasis on academic independence and freedom.

“I spent 10 years in the classroom doing my best to provide the most meaningful learning experiences I could for my students, but I always felt like there was a limit to the quality of education I could provide confined within the four walls of the classroom and bound by the rigid standards of a test-centered curriculum,” said Andy Webster, teacher and director of the Walden Project – NY. He said that the “sense of wonder and excitement” he sees on the faces of students exploring nature is part of what motivated him to bring outdoor education opportunities to local youth.

The Walden Project – NY is based on an educational model started in Vermont, also called the Walden Project. Webster brought the program to Naples in 2018 and this is the third year the program has accepted students.

The Walden Project – NY has been based at Cumming Nature Center since its inception, but the acquisition moves it into the center’s suite of programming, creating more opportunities to enhance the organization’s outdoor educational offerings.

Most significantly, officials said, the acquisition will centralize administrative functions to RMSC, which will allow instructors to focus solely on growing, developing and widening the educational impact of the Walden program.

“The nature center is a hub for so many important programs in our community,” Webster said. “Walden students can learn from craftsmen from the Heritage Make programs, biologists at the BioBlitz, art exhibits, ski lessons, trail races, school field trips and so much more. The kind of rich educational experiences we’re able to offer here just couldn’t happen in a traditional classroom.”

With the acquisition, the nature center now offers outdoor educational experiences for students of all ages.

“Outdoor education connects people to their own communities. It offers a platform to witness an intricate, changing ecosystem and ignite and indestructible sense of wonder for the world around them,” said Nathan Hayes, center director.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer