Students of North Port’s Glenallen Elementary School piloted the Scrub Jay Program in 2015 as participants in a Scrub-jay workshop created and led by Audubon’s Youth Education Coordinator, Linda Soderquist. The fifth grade program was designed to align with Venice Audubon’s mission: “To promote an understanding of and interest in wildlife and the environment that supports it and to foster the cause of conservation with emphasis on birds and their habitats” and to support the students’ Science and Language Arts curriculum standards.  

The program includes two school instructional sessions about Scrub Jays, scrub habitat, and binoculars. The culminating activity is a field trip to Shamrock Park in Venice where students have time to see the plants and animals of the scrub habitat and practice using binoculars while bird-watching. They are engaged in activities in the Nature Center where they learn facts about the local wildlife and habitats, as well as specifics on bird-banding, and view a video about Scrub Jays.

As students learned about the endemic Florida Scrub Jay and its environment, they began to understand what can be done to protect and conserve this locally vanishing habitat. It is hoped that through this experience, the students will become more sensitive to conservation issues and will appreciate the importance of stewardship.

Honored by Audubon Florida with the Best Chapter Education Award in 2016, Venice Audubon is looking to expand this program to other schools in South Sarasota County.