Portsmouth Christian Academy Receives Second National Award to Fund Outdoor Classroom on Bellamy River

Portsmouth Christian Academy has received a second national award from The Christian Education Charitable Trust (CECT), a division of the Tennessee-based Maclellan Foundation, to fund an Outdoor Classroom on the Bellamy River.

The $50,000 matching grant follows an initial round of start-up funding awarded in 2016 that enabled PCA to launch an innovative STEM program for monitoring the health of the waterfront.

In its first year, the Environmental Stewardship Pilot Project provided hands-on learning opportunities for PCA students in preschool through Grade 12, and contributed in a meaningful way to active research at the University level. This second grant from the Maclellan Foundation will make it possible for PCA to build on the success of the Project by:

• Establishing PCA as an Official Oyster Research Site;
• Equipping the Junior High and High School science labs to support water testing;
• Expanding application of solar panels used to power the waterfront Research Station;
• Providing ADA compliant access to the waterfront; and
• Offering additional educational programming, summer camp opportunities, and extracurricular activities that make use of PCA’s unique location on the Bellamy River.

Curriculum will be adapted at the Upper School to make the most of the grant, including opportunities for Marine Biology students to learn how to construct and nurture a reef site on a tidal river and AP Chemistry students to learn how to analyze water for nitrates, turbidity, and other chemicals.

Contact PCA’s Director of Advancement, with any questions: 603-742-3617