Huntington Beach elementary school opens up for environmental science showcase

Los Angeles Times

22-02-2025

As Venus Moeller took in the Golden View Elementary School environmental science showcase on Thursday afternoon, she couldn't help but smile. She made an offhand remark that the atmosphere outside felt like a wedding reception.
Each school in the Ocean View School District has a unique program that sets it apart. Golden View is often known as the school with the farm.
'This, honestly, has been my highlight,' said Moeller, who is in her first year serving as the school's principal. 'This is awesome. Not many people get to work on a farm for part of their day.'
The annual event at the Huntington Beach school showcased student-led projects on environmental science inside the classrooms.
Outside, the 2-acre Golden View farm was in full swing, with items from the school's garden and animal care demonstrations. Partner organizations, including the Shipley Nature Center, Pacific Marine Mammal Center and Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy, offered booths with content for the kiddos and their families.
The Wetlands Conservancy booth featured several felt replica animals of endangered and threatened species, including a large Ridgway's rail bird.
'We try to do things that are tactile,' said John Villa, executive director of the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy. 'When we're teaching them, they tend to remember more at this age if they can touch it and feel it. This exercise we do is to teach them about what is a watershed, and to be careful with the products you use in your home. When it rains, those chemicals will go down toward the ocean.'
Moeller highlighted a couple of behind-the-scenes heroes who help run the outdoor programs. Dana Prante is the farm facilitator, helping students not only interact with the animals but grow their own vegetables, from seeding to harvesting to composting.
Mackenzie Munguia, who has been with Golden View for a bit more than a year, is the environmental science teacher. She plans and creates 30- to 45-minute lessons for each grade level at the farm.
Topics that have been covered this year include biodiversity, erosion, waste disposal and food chains.
'I think it's really cool for them because I feel like they're more excited to be outside, whether it's taking care of the animals or taking care of the garden beds,' Munguia said of her students. 'I feel like they're a lot more connected to it, because they get to experience it almost daily.'
Lily Sheets, a Golden View fourth grader, said she enjoys feeding the pigs on the farm. The boys have the task of cleaning up the pigs' excrement, she added.
The geese are another favorite, though one tends to be aggressive.
Golden View's approach seems to be working. It was selected as a California Green Ribbon School in 2020.
More recently, in December, Golden View learned that it had earned a prestigious 2024 California School Boards Assn. Golden Bell award for its 'Environmental Innovation is Golden' program.
Each grade level works on a project highlighting environmental science throughout the year, Moeller said, before students get to showcase their hard work.
On Thursday, students in Kindra Chen's fifth-grade class showed off slideshows and posters related to their study of how humans interact with the four spheres of earth.
Each had examples of positive and negative human interactions. Student Nolan Ruiz explained that a positive human impact with the hydrosphere is building dams to control the flow of the water. A negative impact is that ships have oil spills, which harm the animals and the ocean.
'I think it's absolutely amazing,' said Robyn Rosenberg-Augustyn, whose son, Baz Rosenberg, is in the class. 'It's letting them have pride in what they're doing and having them open up their minds. They're not just closed off to just writing a paper or reading a book. It's letting them be more involved in what they're doing, and hopefully doing stuff like this will help them be in agriculture or do something in nature.
'It's not just, 'You must work in an office.''