Wade Hampton hosts national education initiative
A group of 29 sixth graders from Summit Charter School were given the opportunity to explore various STEM subjects through the lens of golf at a field trip to Wade Hampton Golf Club, sponsored by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
The trip was brought to the area via First Green, a nationwide program that seeks to bring STEM activities to middle school students using golf as the central component. The initiative itself has been around since 1997, according to Greg Burleson.
“We like bringing kids out to the golf course to use it as a learning lab and to expose them to the game,” he said.
Burleson said the mission behind the field trip was to showcase how environmentally conscious the golf club is, presented via five different stations that the students rotated between.
“We talked about how important water is, not only the dust, but the plants and living things,” he said. “And we talked about the use of water on golf course and how we use weather stations and computers and a lot of different measures to conserve water when we do use it.”
Burleson said an example was demonstrated through the golf course’s sprinklers, which could be turned on through radios and phones. In addition to this, another station, which Burleson named “Cool Tools,” presented to the students some of the machines that the club is equipped with, such as drones.
“We’ve also got an autonomous mower that mows at night. It’s programmed and it knows where to go, where to come back and they’re all automatic. So, we showed them that and some instruments that we used to measure soil moisture, things such as that,” he said.
With the field trip set on a golf course, it is only fitting that students were also given the opportunity to learn how to putt a golf ball, which Burleson said was done through a putty contest.
“Each group did that and the winner of that little group who got the closest to the hole got a hat from the from the golf pro,” he said.
Math was also utilized in the field trip, which Burleson said was shown to the children through a sand trap, with the students learning the calculations of how much sand is built up, in turn determining the mass behind them.
“Then we had another station that was focused on calibrating liquids that we apply like liquid fertilizers, fungicides, and then also dry stuff like dry fertilizers through the Rotary spreader,” he said. “So, we hit on a lot of stuff.”
The field trip marked the first time Summit Charter School has participated in a field trip from First Green, according to Summit’s Curriculum Coordinator Hannah Holmes, who also served as a chaperone for the children.
Holmes said kids typically learn better with hands-on activities, which keeps them engaged with the subject matter rather than sitting on a desk in the classroom.
“They’ve been really engaging with it. The kids are excited to not be in the classroom, but they’re always excited to learn,” she said.
Adding to this, Holmes said the field trip also gives them the opportunity to look at potential job fields for the future, with the field trip showcasing the fun behind science, technology and engineering.
“They’re able to look at this and see there’s several different careers that are available through those subjects,” she said. Just getting their kids hands-on opportunities to work with those not in school.”
Burleson added to this and said the golf club could one day be a source of employment for the students in the future, should they be in search for a summer job within the next few years.
“I think they were just in awe of the beauty of the place and all the number of different hats that we have to wear to do what we do,” he said. “There’s, work here if they choose to have a summer job when they turn 16 or 17.”
Burleson expressed satisfaction from the field trip and said the students were never bored with the material and enjoyed all the offerings that the golf club presented to them, which in turn also brought joy to the staff as well.
“I’m glad that it seemed like everybody really got a lot out of it, not only the students, but the presenters as well,” he said. “It gives you a good feeling of giving back and that’s nice. I’m looking forward to doing it again in the future.”