Allendale Community Field Day promotes outdoor education

The 5th annual Allendale Community Field Day was literally buzzing June 18 at the Allendale Public Schools K-8 campus as Grand Valley faculty taught children about "Things that Cycle."

The event paired Grand Valley faculty and students with members of the Allendale community and public school system for a fun day of engaging activities that promoted outdoor education.

During the event, approximately 150 people had the opportunity to participate in various educational activities, including building kitchen compost containers; wearing bacteria costumes and simulating the nitrogen cycle; planting trees, shrubs and plants; learning what happens after rain falls and flows into streams; visiting a beehive installed during the 2015 field day; and creating sculptures out of recycled materials.

Peter Riemersma, associate professor of geology at Grand Valley, and Keith Piccard, adjunct professor of biology at Grand Valley and a science teacher at Allendale Middle School, coordinated this year's Allendale Community Field Day.

Riemersma said this year's theme of "Things that Cycle" is an important topic for people of all ages to understand.

"The idea of 'cycling' in nature helps illustrate how interconnected natural processes and life are, and how a change can ripple through an entire ecosystem," Riemersma said. "For example, we had one activity that examined how what an animal eats and differences in digestive strategies between animals affects what their scat looks like."