Education Connection

Brings Students To Horse Guard

By Eliza Hallabeck

Students in Education Connection’s Tails to Tales program visited the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard on Wednesday, July 17, to meet the horses and learn as part of the summer program.

Tails to Tales Director Abby Peklo of Woodbury said the science enrichment program “uses animals as a springboard for learning.”

This year’s Tails to Tales group is the largest to visit the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard yet, according to Peggy Kelley, a trooper with the horse guard and the assistant director of Education Connection’s school-aged programs.

Tails to Tales is a weeklong program, according to Education Connection, and throughout the week students met different “animal ambassadors” and their human counterparts while learning. Students created edible DNA using colored marshmallows, according to Ms Peklo, met a wolf, and more. Ms Peklo said two of the main goals of the program are to help reduce ethnic isolation and to increase academic achievement for students who participate in the program.

Tails to Tales, according to Education Connection, is free to students, after a $25 registration fee, which could be waived based on financial hardship.

Tails to Tales is open to students from Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, Region 12, and Sherman, according to Education Connection.

Ms Peklo said the students were brought to the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard “to learn what the horse guard is, because it is a very valuable thing in the state of Connecticut.”

The students also learned about endangered species, taxidermy, habitats, and more during the week.

After students ate lunch under the shade of a few tall trees, members of the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard demonstrated a military drill for the students, before they were led through the remainder of the campus to meet horses and learn about the institution.

Students saw where the horses are kept, learned how they are groomed, and were introduced to a couple of the horses.

When a group of students were asked what they enjoyed most about the Tails for Tales program, one said, “The activities during the day,” another said, “Making projects,” and third said, “Meeting new friends.”