Kids need donations for their mud walk!

[The Backlash Cometh]

The mud walk is an environmental field trip out to a natural preserve where the kids get to commune with nature. It's a rite of passage for fifth graders in the county and because of cuts, the tradition may be discontinued. If you're an environmentalist with deep pockets I'm sure the kiddies would appreciate donations. For your cash donation you get to shame a red county that has been selling it's kids out a little at a time.

LONGWOOD — Cathy Alameda remembers that when she got stuck in the waist-deep mud of the Spring Hammock Preserve, classmates pulled her out so that everyone could continue exploring the preserve's plants and animals. She was a fifth-grader taking the Mud Walk, the Environmental Studies Center's popular two-day science program.

"This is one of my greatest memories in elementary ," said Alameda, who graduated this month from Seminole High School inSanford.

Future fifth-graders in Seminole County may not have the same experience. Unless the center raises $120,000, it could close at the end of the month. The school district plans to cut funds for the nature center to help close a $20 million budget gap.

The Friends of the Environmental Studies Center hopes to raise the money by June 14, when the School Board is to decide the center's fate. The group wants to show school officials that the community is willing to pay for the center, Friends president Pat Burkett said.


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/seminole/os-mud-walk-seminole-budget-cuts-20110602,0,252928.story