Pine Jog

Pine Jog Earth Force offers educators and youth an opportunity to research environmental issues pertinent to Southeast Florida. A unit of the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University, Pine Jog Environmental Education Center is located on 150 acres of pine flatwoods surrounded by an urban community. By combining environmental education, citizenship development and community problem solving, young people in grades four and up along the Treasure Coast are exploring diverse environmental problems that take them everywhere from the wetlands of the Florida Everglades to the urban environment of our inner cities.

A cadre of 25 Marshall Fellows fill the niche for implementing the Earth Force program into schools and community-based organizations. Utilizing the talents of these Fellows, more than 150 youth will be involved in Earth Force After School Programs. Since no two sites are alike, Pine Jog Earth Force may expect a "broad" picture window of projects enveloping many diverse communities. In the past, Pine Jog Earth Force has seen the beginning stages of a seasonal pond restoration project, a town meeting to discuss the fate of a river, and the challenge to get everyone involved in recycling. Earth Force projects like these are engaging youth in their community and promoting the skills of responsible citizenship.

To learn more about Earth Force and The Marshall Fellowship at Pine Jog, please visit our site at www.pinejog.org

Contact Us
Carrie Mohanna, Earth Force Coordinator
Pine Jog EE Center, College of Education, Florida Atlantic University
6301 Summit Boulevard, West Palm Beach, FL 33415
Phone (561) 686-6600
Fax (561) 687-4968
Email pinejog@earthforce.org

Success Stories

afterschool at A.D. Henderson School

17 May 2007 - For the third semester of the Pine Jog Fellowship, I worked with a youth group of 16 third to fifth graders at A.D. Henderson School. I had never worked with such a big group of students all by myself, so I had a lot to learn! More...

Afterschool at Calusa Elementary School

17 May 2007 - After a devastating hurricane season, the 4th graders at Calusa Elementary School were heartbroken to find that their very own butterfly garden had been torn to pieces. It was covered in bark, leaves, and completely destroyed. After months of no progress made by the administration, thirty-three 4th graders took the initiative and found the perfect opportunity to create a brand new garden during their Environmental after school program with the Pine Jog Fellows. The students were motivated and excited, which pushed them to work extra hard on making the new garden perfect. More...

Afterschool at Del Prado Elementary School

17 May 2007 - Our youth group consisted of twenty-one third, fourth, and fifth graders at Del Prado Elementary. All of our kids going into the program were already very environmentally conscious and aware of many issues in their community and school. However, as we began to examine their school, they realized that much could be improved. We started off by educating our kids on each of the four suggested project areas: Energy, Waste/Recycling, School Grounds, and School Transportation. After dot-voting it became overwhelmingly clear that the students were angry about the state of their nature trail and wanted to fix it, as the School Grounds category was the clear winner. When everyone began looking into the history of the nature trail at Del Prado, we discovered that there had been nature trail cleanups, but it was neglected over the past 5 years due to hurricanes and lack of enthusiasm. There also had been many attempts to start something like the Earth Force Club to clean up the trail, but nothing was accomplished. We also discovered that there was an unused wetland area that was neglected which could be valuable to both students and teachers. The Earth Force Club then made it their mission to reduce the amount of trash on the nature trail, increase the use of the trail by students and teachers, and restore the wetland area out on the trail for student use. More...

Afterschool at Florence Fuller East

17 May 2007 - The project of choice for our group at Florence Fuller ended up being to cultivate a native garden. Be it for the possibility of attracting the likes of butterflies and ladybugs or the sheer beauty of some of the plants and flowers, this one project had the children excited from the very beginning. More...

Afterschool at Florence Fuller West

17 May 2007 - For our third semester project we decided to work with the students in the after-school program of Florence Fuller West. Our group consisted of 16 students in grades 3 through 5. We met with our students for a total of 21 hours between the months of January and March. After spending multiple sessions educating our students about environmental issues and concerns, they voted upon making a butterfly and bird garden as their Earth Force project. Although many sessions were spent working on our garden, we also spent a lot of time doing environmental related art projects and small-scale projects for the students to take home and enjoy. More...

Afterschool at Jupiter Farms Community Elementary

17 May 2007 - The kids and I at Jupiter Farms Community Elementary school have really enjoyed participating in the Earth Force Project over the semester. It gave us all a chance to lengthen and increase our knowledge about the environment. The kids all started out with their own goals. More...

Afterschool at Lighthouse Elementary School

17 May 2007 - In January 2007 the Earth Force club was created at Lighthouse Elementary School in Jupiter, FL. The club consisted of about 15 first grade students from the school’s after-care program. The group first investigated some environmental issues of the community, and later brainstormed a project that would be beneficial to both their school and the earth. More...

Afterschool at Morikami Park Elementary School

17 May 2007 - Our project goal for Earth Force was to provide our students with the information and resources to identify environmental issues in their community, propose solutions to those problems, and work together to decide and work on one of the solutions. For our particular group, we decided to renovate a nearby run-down plot of land and turn it into a native butterfly garden. After further research, we decided to expand the garden’s purpose to other fauna, including hummingbirds with firecracker plants and other types of birds with a bird bath. More...

Afterschool at Omni Middle School

17 May 2007 - Our first decision as a group was choosing our youth group. After intense research we decided that Omni Middle School was the best place for our Earth Force program because of the excellent academic achievement and the behavior of the students. Following our introduction of Earth Force at our first meeting we explained to the students each of the four project topics; energy, waste and recycling, school grounds, and transportation. We then created many activities for the students, to help them narrow down which topic they wanted to use for our project. After a couple weeks of concentrated activities on each topic, the students voted. The final vote affirmed that the students’ main interest was recycling and waste. More...

Afterschool at Summit Christian School

17 May 2007 - I worked with a group of 18 fourth graders at Summit Christian School. Together we learned more about the environment, and then discussed issues we might address on the school campus. They came up with things like building a garden, protecting cypress trees from runoff, and catching and getting feral cats fixed. The cat project was shot down, though the kids were excited about it, because it was too dangerous. In the end, they decided to plant a garden. More...

Afterschool at The Benjamin Middle School

17 May 2007 - This purpose of this project was to teach students about recycling and composting certain waste materials. Last year another fellow initiated a recycling program at the Benjamin Middle and Lower School, this project aimed to continue that work and take it one step further with composting. More...

Afterschool programs with Pine Jog EE Center

17 May 2007 - Instead of having a traditional youth group, for my project I went out to various underprivileged elementary schools and after-school organizations to teach a curriculum on water conservation. I did this in conjunction with Pine Jog graduate students, and I went out to the sites with them and assisted. More...

Pine Job YAB Accepts Award in Sweden

23 Sep 2004 - Three Pine Jog Youth Advisory Board members went to Sweden this past May to accept a global award for their work to reduce run-off pollution. More...