By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

CAMDEN, Ohio — Come one, come all. And, they did.

All sixth-grade classes from schools in a five-county area converged at Pleasant Vineyard Ministries Camp near Camden for the Preble County Earth Day 2008.

Various professionals spoke to the students about conservation and natural resources subjects, with topics ranging from forestry, to honeybees, to conservation of electricity.

“A few of the children live on the farm for most have no farm background at all,” said B.J. Price of the Preble County Soil and Water Conservation District. “The students rotated through five speakers, spending 20 minutes at each station.

“We like to see this stewardship of natural resources. It’s not just preserve the Earth and save it for later. We need to use it while we’re here, but we need to take good care of what we have. That’s what we want the kids to go home with.”

Students learned about soils and soil structures, Ohio trees, air pollution, trapping, forestry, recycling, fossils, wildlife management, water quality, birds, energy sources and prairie grasses.