GRANITE CITY – Students at Maryville Elementary Education Center welcomed several birds of prey to their school.
On Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, Ameren Illinois and the Illinois Raptor Center partnered to bring birds of prey to the school. With a gym filled with 400 first and second graders, the assembly allowed students to study the birds and learn about conservation, life cycles and ecosystems.
“I was really excited when [Ameren] reached out to me about the opportunity and we were able to put this together,” said Dr. Liz Niepert, principal at Maryville Elementary Education Center.
Niepert said this was the school’s first indoor assembly of the year, and students had been practicing their “Mustang manners” to prepare. She added Maryville Elementary Education Center cares about conservation, and they try to instill these values in their students.
The school has a recycling club and recently installed a hydroponic garden. The first and second graders also learn about life cycles and ecosystems in their classrooms, so Niepert hoped that meeting the birds of prey would be educational for students.
“It also goes along with our curriculum,” she explained. “They’re learning about the life cycles at this level. To see about the animals and learn about how they started off and how they grow and how the life cycle works, we’re pretty excited. I’m really excited to kind of tie all that in together and learn about the environment and recycling, which is important to us here.”
Paula Nixon, community relations executive with Ameren Illinois, added that Ameren’s Avian Protection Program aims to protect birds from hazards associated with utility infrastructure. She said it was an easy decision to bring the Illinois Raptor Center program to Maryville Elementary Education Center.
“The biggest part is, we want the kids to know the different facets. We want the kids to know the different facets of the electrical system, conservation, the ecosystem,” Nixon said. “We’re not just up here putting up poles and wires and gas lines. We want them to know that we’re good environmental stewards.”
For more information about Ameren’s Aviation Protection Program, visit the official Ameren Illinois website.
