Not every kid gets the opportunity to explore the great outdoors, but many in Burlington are starting to learn about the nature right on their doorstep.

Nature’s Neighbourhood Eco Action Rangers (NEAR) is an outdoor and environmental education initiative that teaches Halton District School Board (HDSB) students in grades 4-6 about the nature they can find in their own schoolyard in 100-minute sessions.

“The whole goal is to show students that you don’t need to go far,” Rachel Irwin, the founder of Nature’s NEAR, said. “There’s a lot to explore near you that you don’t need to go on a big fancy excursion or field trip to see, as amazing as those are. Just showing kids all the wondrous and wonderful things they can see in their backyards and schoolyards is really important too.”

The program was started in 2020 and has been growing ever since, reaching 950 students across 12 schools since January 2024. Nature’s NEAR also employs co-op high school students to help create the activities and run the programs for younger students. 

The benefits of the program are more than just educational, and it has impacted the student’s mood in a positive way after they finish their lesson.

“I think you see a change in their mood,” Irwin said. “There’s a lot of studies showing how being outside impacts mental health, learning and achievement. It’s really fun seeing how much they open up to the high school students, sometimes they start off really shy and then once you’re outside the collaboration is really nice. Seeing how the students work together, how they’re talking with the high school students, it’s more positive, happy, exciting energy.”

A 2023 study published on BioMed Central showed a positive association between young students getting more outdoor time and improved academic results after analyzing the data of more than 3,000 students worldwide, as well as a reduced risk of myopia and improved mental health.

The elementary school students aren’t the only ones to see the benefits of the program, however, as the co-op students have also been impacted by their involvement with Nature’s NEAR.

“A lot of my students have really come out of their shell,” Grishnavie Sivasundaram, program lead at Nature’s NEAR, said. “When we were first having sign ups, I went and visited schools and met some of the students, and they all seemed keen but a little bit shy. I’ve seen so many of them build really awesome confidence now. Some people are born with more confidence, some people have to work at it, and this is just a really great opportunity for people to take on ownership over their personal journeys.”

Mya Henry, Georgia Wagg, Jaslyne Marek and Axie Stadelman all worked with Nature’s NEAR for their co-op placement this semester, spending half of each school day planning out the program or meeting with elementary students.

“I think the best part of the program for me was actually being able to go and see the students,” Henry said. “It was really cute seeing how excited they would get and how enthusiastic they were about learning. Even if during the presentations they could be a bit rowdy, I know it was a lot of enthusiasm towards what we wanted them to learn. I thought it was really heartwarming.”

Nature’s NEAR has received letters from both the elementary students they have visited and their parents about the positive effect the program had on the young students.

Despite only being with them for less than two hours per session, the co-op students could see a difference in the groups every time they visited.

“It’s really interesting to see the kids change and grow throughout our process because we’re not there for a long time,” Georgia Wagg, another co-op student, said. “We go for one day and then we might see them a couple weeks later and they’ll be so excited for us to come back and they’ll ask us questions. Sometimes they’ll go and do their own research and come back with different species of bees and things that they’ve learned about.”

The co-op students learn about the environment at the same time that the elementary students do, and the program can help to reinforce the importance of nature to students of all ages.

“Since working at Nature’s NEAR I have started to notice myself thinking about nature a lot more,” Marek said. “I always wanted to work in the environmental field, however during the school year I hadn’t had the opportunity to be outside as much as I would like to. This semester, that changed as most of my mornings were spent outside or talking about all of the wonderful things that live outside. This has allowed me to reconnect with nature and appreciate it even more. Now every time I walk outside I listen to the birds chirping or think about what species the trees in my neighbourhood are, which is new.”

The high school students have a lot of control over the program and take part in all stages of planning and presenting the information to their younger audience.

“Planning is a big part of our skills,” Stadelman said. “I’d never made a program like this before, and it was a lot of planning and hard work. You have to sit down with a team, there’s a lot of discussion and research that goes into it. I think that’s a big skill that we’ll carry forward with us.”

Nature’s NEAR hopes to grow the team in the future to add more co-op spots for high school students to get involved, as well as creating outdoor learning kits that teachers can use to add more environmental education to their classrooms.