TMI's Appalachia program is an active partner in the local community. The results of TMI's work are evident throughout the world, but our efforts begin close by, on Spruce Knob Mountain and in the communities that surround it. Our trademark Reading the Landscape environmental literacy programs were first offered to Circleville’s North Fork Elementary School. The positive impact was immediately apparent. The students were enthusiastic, the teachers were impressed, and once we had a few years worth of data, we were able to show statistically what we suspected all along – that students’ test scores improved after participating in Reading the Landscape. For more information on this, please see Reading the Results: Improved Science Test Scores after Three Years of Reading the Landscape in the Spring 2009 Spruce Knob News. The Pendleton Times featured the North Fork program (which can be seen on our facebook page) on September 28, 2010.

On the other side of the mountain, we help to run the Randolph County Outdoor Education Program (RCOEP). RCOEP is fueled by the old adage that “it takes a village.” Every fifth grader in the county participates in RCOEP. For more information on the program, see the RCOEP page.

Through our Appalachian Watershed & Stream Monitors program, we have worked with students to plant thousands of trees and evaluate stream quality throughout West Virginia. Between all of our programs, we worked with over three thousand West Virginian students in the past five years.