Bringing nature to the children

Local News

Related Photos

Photo Provided

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE: There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

ALSO NOTE: Derisive name-calling of an individual or group will result in the entire comment being deleted. This includes the terms "stupid" and "idiot" and similar references.

Welcome to our new online comments feature. Before you can join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address.

Once you do, your comments will post after they have been reviewed by a moderator.

We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified, at the newspaper’s discretion, for a number of reasons. Here are some typical practices to avoid in trying to get your comment printed:

There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

Don’t state as a fact something that is unsubstantiated or that our editors wouldn't know to be true.

Don’t presume someone’s guilt in a case when it hasn't been established by a court.

Don’t assail or impugn an identifiable individual or group. If you have that kind of criticism, sign your name and submit it as a Letter to the Editor. (There is some leeway on this in connection with public officials, but it is not unconditional.)

Don’t use profanity. This includes the term “tea bagger.”

Don’t be incendiary or tasteless. Those qualities are subjective, of course, and our editors will be the arbiters.

Do not identify yourself in the main content area of the article content form. Only by enforcing this rule can the moderators prevent unscrupulous commenters from falsely identifying themselves as someone they are not.

Don't type in all caps. It is considered the Internet equivalent of shouting.

In sports articles, do not criticize officiating.

Remember, moderators are not allowed to edit any article comments. If an article comment fails any of the above criteria, the entire comment will be deleted.

We monitor comments Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Approval of comments outside these times may be delayed.

comments powered by Disqus

February 16, 2008

'She takes an interest in her work. She likes it to mean something"

By RYAN HAYNER The Press Republican Sun Feb 17, 2008, 12:37 AM EST

PLATTSBURGH -- Jan Daniels wasn't a fan of running in circles.

Using the track never seemed interesting when she was a Beekmantown High School cross-country runner.

Instead, she chose to run through places like scenic Point au Roche State Park.

She grew up in Cumberland Head and often watched deer walk through her backyard cornfields.

She found that running through these nature-rich environments provided a much deeper experience.

"It felt like it was always an adventure. It was so much more of an outdoor experience."

Those outdoor experiences have come to define her career and life.

WRITING GUIDE

Now 30 years old and named Jan Wellik, she is the director of Eco Expressions, a nature-writing program for youths that she founded in 2004 with funding support from Wild Gift, a non-profit environmental leadership organization based in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Wellik self-published her "Nature Writing Field Guide for Teachers" in October 2007. The guide is described as a "unique curriculum to combine two major academic subjects, English and science, into one scholastic adventure to revive the enthusiasm to learn."

It is being utilized by Kindergarten-to-12th-grade teachers in several states, including New York, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.

An expanded version of the guide is being considered for publication by a writing curriculum publisher. The revised edition will have additional activities for grades six to 12 and be organized by environmental issues so teachers can choose activities that match the classroom lesson.

Her father, Terry Daniels, who owns a sign business, will provide illustrations for the book.

Her mother, Marion, said she and Terry are proud of their daughter's accomplishments.

"She takes an interest in her work," Marion said. "She likes it to mean something."

CHILDHOOD INFLUENCES

Wellik credits her love of the outdoors to growing up in the North Country and to the simple, traditional way of life she learned as a child while spending summers on her grandparents' farm in Harperfield with her brother, Jesse.

She remembers being around the animals -- cows, goats, chickens -- and learning how to pick fruits and vegetables from the farm's garden and raspberry patch and sell them at their roadside stand.

"I just loved it," she said.

After attending SUNY Albany for English and journalism and working for newspapers in Massachusetts and Wisconsin, she settled in San Diego in 2000.

An eye-opening experience working with at-risk youths sparked her to start Eco Expressions. Since then, she has received grants to implement her program, including $40,000 to set up an Eco Expressions after-school program in Blaine County School District in Hailey, Idaho.

EVOLVING

Eco Expressions is on a path to becoming a non-profit education organization this year, and Wellik is searching across the United States for educators to make up a board of directors.

She will finish her master's in English through distance learning with Middlebury College this summer, and her husband, Michael, will be finishing his master's in biology at San Diego State University this fall.

She said her dream is to establish a writing retreat center in either Wisconsin or Michael's home state of Minnesota.

Now her back yard is the Pacific Ocean, a big change from the North Country cornfields.

Wellik is doing what she loves for a living. Nature is her office, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"The closest I've ever worked in a cubicle was for a newspaper.

"I have to spend half of my day working outside, and I'm lucky I get to hike with kids and do things like canoeing.

"Creative writing by canoe -- I mean, my gosh, that's like a perfect day."