The Brightside: PWES Conservation Club

BRIDGEVILLE, Del. – A nearly 20-year-old conservation club in Bridgeville shows how far small helping hands can go. A group of students is blossoming into tangible evidence that it’s a labor of love.

“I often say Woodbridge is the little district that can, and this is just one of those entities that we’ve created that exposes kids to various things,” says Jeff Allen, a Woodbridge parent, and Vice President of the Woodbridge School Board.

Conservation means to protect, maintain, restore, and enhance ecosystems and the species that live there; and at Phillis Wheatley Elementary School, a club has dedicated almost two decades to that very mission. “It’s all sweat, tears, blood, muscle work, and it builds,” says Allen.

Pam Vanderwende, one of the founders of the club says, “We don’t realize that work that goes into it, the little details that go into it, and they help with that, I’m not doing this by myself.” Since 2005, Vanderwende, along with other like-minded Woodbridge teachers have used their passion for preserving the environment to instill those same lessons in their students which has overflowed into the community.

Students like Blake and Travis Allen, who are now seniors at Woodbridge tell WMDT, they continue to come back every year to share their knowledge and love for the club. “At a young age, we just wanted to get involved in stuff that would sort of introduce us to wildlife, plants, animals, and whatnot. So that was a no-brainer when we heard about conservation club so we joined,” says Blake. “They pretty much look at us as role models and leaders and coaches to them and help them out like hey what do I need to do next.” His brother Travis goes on to say, “We’ll teach them the different types of plants and what they do, and how to build a nice courtyard and nice yards and landscaping and make people happy.”

From revitalizing a courtyard, and caring for wetlands, to improving a playground and creating a secret garden to give students an outdoor oasis to learn, the conservation club has done it all.

We’re told when the school transitioned from a middle school to an elementary school, smaller hands took over, but the creativity continued to flow. “A lot of our kids don’t get to go out and travel and things like that so any opportunity I can give them to do that and also submerse them in nature, I want to do it,” says Vanderwende.

The students have been able to travel to the nature walk in Rehoboth Beach, Longwood Gardens in Philadelphia, and even Central Park in New York City. The experiences provided them with the the spark to plant, garden, create oases, and landscapes, and create an effective ecosystem for wildlife. Vanderwende adds, “I wanted the students to think like that to think about all the beautiful things that are out in nature and how important it is to protect them.”

Fundraising is a key element to those efforts, so Vanderwende tasked her students with photographing nature, and selling the photos at an auction – photos that now hang throughout the school reiterating its dedication to supporting the club. “They are important, and make them feel like they can do something special that can be shared with everyone, that’s a feeling you can’t even describe,” explains Vanderwende.

Meanwhile, parents like Allen, who’s also a local farmer say he’s seen his sons also benefit from the club. “It allows them to be exposed to horticulture, conservation, different practices.” He goes on to say, “It’s something that the kids have built, they have put pride into It’s brought the family together, it’s brought people together, it’s brought our community together.”

It’s the partnerships made throughout the years have made the club’s projects possible. While parents, students, and teachers continue to grow, so do the fruits of their labor. “It’s not all about fun and games, it’s pretty much helping the community and helping your loved ones,” says Travis. Vanderwende adds, “Your gifts and things that you do well, and I want to use those things where I work because I know that I’m impacting the future.”

The conservation club has expanded back into the middle school, and Vanderwende tells us, they’re working to keep all the spaces low maintenance so the club can keep up.

Two of those projects were dedicated to teachers who passed, showing these students are learning about compassion as well.