'Students for the Community'
and How we work on Baltic 21

Form eight students and teacher of technical works on their self-made bridge

The ecology club 'Ainiai' of Mastaiciai Basic School work with sustainable forestry in the Baltic 21 because of two reasons:

• Our small country school is situated next to the forest
• We have been working with sustainable forestry for a few years already

We have been collecting information of the past of our village according to the BSP programme "Environmental History". By exploring old maps we find how the village develops and grows. In the sixties few individual farms remained in this place, and to-day we have modern settlements (see map)

Map of Mastaciai: 
1: Kaunas Higher Agricultural School with1200 students & 87 teachers
2: Mastaiciai Basic School (part of the complex) with 280 pupils and 30 teachers
3: The sports area
4: The outdoor classroom by the old oak
5: Ecology educational path

Historical sources and old native people tell us that in 1915 during War I all forests were cut in this area, only one oak was saved to watch the hostile army. This oak is 300 years old now. It is the oldest tree in the surroundings. Just because of the oak we decided to put up our outdoor class here. Our students can leave the stuffy classrooms and have nature observing related lessons outside in nature. 

The project 'Students for the community' made by eco-club 'Ainiai' was supported by authorities, financed by the municipality of Kaunas region and by the owner of the forest area: The project was put into practice with the help of students, teachers and parents. After two months work small bridges, cozy bonfires, places for group work, benches etc. appeared next to the old oak. Now lessons on ethnics, geography, languages and art take place here as do different students' festivals. 

The main objective was to create better opportunities for education outdoors. We plan to equip a 1.5 km ecology educational path in the forest next to our school and integrate sustainable forestry themes into the educational process. We include practices achieved attending international teacher training courses on "Bird Ecology" and "Rivers". The municipality of Kaunas region and the owner of the forest promise financial support so we can accomplish the projects.

Drawing by Laura Pokeleviciute, Mastaiciai Basic School