There is an educational program that Rogers Lumber Company of Orange is hosting this June in partnership with the Texas Forestry Association, for our local teachers to receive Continuing Education Credits in an exciting, forestry based format.
Jeff Rogers said, “Teacher Conservation Institute has been around since the 1990s and is a storied program that has taught many teachers the importance of the forest products industry and sustainable forestry. The new TCI model, currently in use is called Teacher Conservation Institute: Green Jobs, Exploring Forest Careers. The new program is focused on giving teachers the tools and understanding of careers in the natural resource fields / forest sector. They will be trained in the new Project Learning Tree Green Jobs curriculum that has four activities the teachers can use in their classroom to inspire their middle / high school students to start conversations about their future and their career goals. The curriculum is aligned to state standards so it makes a great compliment to teachers lesson plans in their classrooms. The program is limited to 25 participants so we are hoping that we can get the word around to our Orange county teachers first so they have an opportunity to sign up before it fills up with teachers from the rest of the golden triangle area and beyond. TCI has established a great reputation amongst teachers for a professional development program, thus many are willing to travel to attend one.”
“As part of the program, the teachers will get to tour every aspect of the forest sector, from a tree farm, then to harvesting at an active logging site. Next to our sawmill in Orange, a primary forest products manufacturer, and finally to International Paper to see the paper making process. This will be our first time as part of this TCI tour process and I am very excited to take part in it!,” he said.
The tours are an important part of teacher’s understanding the life cycle of a forest product from a seedling, to harvesting/logging to becoming a forest product. They highlight Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards and the chain of custody that takes place in this process and also highlight the careers / jobs the teachers are witnessing in front of them.
Many times, teachers are impressed by the careers and well-paying jobs in these facilities that they didn’t know existed. In fact, some teachers have even arranged to take their classes back with them to the sites that they previously visited.
This is the direct registration link and a little more event information from the TFA. Ted Stevens is the Education Director for the TFA and TCI is his program. His contact information is also listed on the linked webpage.
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