Education Student Spends Summer Teaching at Nature Center

Summer is a time for rest and relaxation but for many Gwynedd Mercy University students, it's a time bring the skills they learned in the classroom to the real world. Senior education student Amanda Gentry spent this past summer interning at the Churchville Nature Center, a nonprofit environmental education center in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

While completing an assignment for Professor Pierantozzi's Teaching Science for Pre-K to 4 class, Amanda noticed that Churchville Nature Center was looking for educators to teach in their Lenape Native American Village. Amanda immediately knew she had to inquire as the job combined her two passions - history and teaching.

Amanda didn't have to wait long. She contacted the director and shortly after she got the job. Amanda spent the summer teaching students about the Lenape way of life through various stations. Each station had hands-on activities centered around themes such as pottery, gardening, and cooking. This enabled students to visualize what it was like to live like a Lenape Native American 500 years ago.

"The job taught me so much about myself as a future educator," Amanda said. "It allowed me to apply the strategies I have learned in my classes at GMercyU and strengthened my love for history and teaching."

Learn more about Amanda's GMercyU experience.