{"id":7333,"date":"2023-04-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=7333"},"modified":"2023-04-27T06:50:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T06:50:21","slug":"brussels-students-dig-into-local-environment-for-earth-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=7333","title":{"rendered":"Brussels students dig into local environment for Earth Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Clint Vanerman, natural and cultural resources manger for the U.S. Army Garrison Benelux environmental division, works with students during an Earth Day celebration at Brussels American School, Sterrebeek Annex, Belgium, April 21, 2023. Environmental Division employees spent the morning teaching students about the environmental impact of trees and birds, as well as how to identify several species commonly found in Belgium. (U.S. Army photo by Meredith Mulvihill, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
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\n Fourth graders dig a hole for a dogwood bush during an Earth Day celebration at Brussels American School, Sterrebeek Annex, Belgium, April 21, 2023. During the event, the students worked with U.S. Army Garrison Benelux Environmental Division employees to plant the bushes around the football field concession stand. (U.S. Army photo by Meredith Mulvihill, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
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\n Fourth graders dig a hole for a dogwood bush during an Earth Day celebration at Brussels American School, Sterrebeek Annex, Belgium, April 21, 2023. During the event, the students worked with U.S. Army Garrison Benelux Environmental Division employees to plant the bushes around the football field concession stand. (U.S. Army photo by Meredith Mulvihill, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
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\n Clint Vanerman, natural and cultural resources manger for the U.S. Army Garrison Benelux environmental division, describes a House Sparrow to third grade students during an Earth Day celebration at Brussels American School, Sterrebeek Annex, Belgium, April 21, 2023. Environmental Division employees spent the morning teaching students about the environmental impact of trees and birds, as well as how to identify several species commonly found in Belgium. (U.S. Army photo by Meredith Mulvihill, USAG Benelux Public Affairs)
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STERREBEEK ANNEX, Belgium \u2013\u202fElementary school students learned about the local environment and planted bushes as part of an Earth Day celebration at Brussels American School on April 20, 2023.<\/p>\n

The morning began with presentations from the U.S. Army Garrison Benelux Environmental Division, where the students were taught the environmental impact of birds and trees and how to identify several species commonly found in Belgium.<\/p>\n

Clint Vanerman, natural and cultural resources manager for the USAG Benelux environmental division, explained the topics were a good way to introduce students to the importance of their local ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Birds and trees] are what you see the most,\u201d said Vanerman, \u201cThey\u2019re also very important, and if they were gone an ecosystem would collapse and it would be a very bad situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that [the students] know what they are, they can tell their parents and brothers and sisters and make them aware.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sofia Mesrobyan, a fourth grader at Brussels American School, said she enjoyed the lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really fun learning about this stuff because we didn\u2019t know most of the things,\u201d Mesrobyan said. \u201c[Now] maybe when you\u2019re out walking, you\u2019ll see it and be like, \u2018I know that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in the day, the fourth grade class was able to experience one of the plant species they learned about first-hand by planting dogwood bushes around the school\u2019s football field concession stand.<\/p>\n

According to Vanerman, dogwood bushes were selected because their berries are helpful for the local bird population.<\/p>\n

Kami Sultangozhin, a fellow fourth grader at the school, said the bush planting experience was his favorite part of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my first time planting bushes,\u201d Sultangozhin said. \u201cI\u2019d never heard of Earth Day before, and [today] I found out a new tradition\u2026I was able to participate in.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this was both Mesrobyan\u2019s and Sultangozhin\u2019s first time celebrating Earth Day, both said they were excited to share the celebration with their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandpa likes plants\u2026and is always planting them,\u201d Sultangozhin said. \u201cFor Earth Day tomorrow, I\u2019ll call my grandpa and celebrate it [with him].\u201d<\/p>\n

Florent Valke, a core compliance contractor with the environmental division, said he really enjoyed getting to work with the students and teach them more about Earth Day and the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling when I see the kids really amazed by\u2026the little things,\u201d he said. \u201cYou show this to some adults, they say \u2018ok, I don\u2019t really care.\u2019 But kids are really excited about everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valke also emphasized the importance of observances like Earth Day for educating children and adults alike about caring for their local ecosystem.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot love something you don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to know what is inside of their environment in order to make them love it, and then protect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. The commemoration initially began in the U.S. in 1970, and has since spread to over 190 countries around the world.<\/p>\n

Read the Army’s 2023 Earth Day Message<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 \/ 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption \u2013 Clint Vanerman, natural and cultural resources manger for the U.S. Army Garrison Benelux environmental division, works with students during an Earth Day celebration at Brussels American School, Sterrebeek Annex, Belgium, April 21, 2023. Environmental Division employees spent the morning teaching students about the environmental impact of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7335,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7333"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7340,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7333\/revisions\/7340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}