Solstice – Students in the four to six- year-old cohort at Free Bird Nature School in Salem have been learning about the Solstice on Dec. 21. It marks the day that the sun is overhead at noon along the Tropic of Capricorn and is the shortest day in the northern hemisphere. Students, like many ancient peoples before them, participated in a ceremony to mark the return of the light. Students are pictured with their mentors, Leigh Bird and Whitney Matusiak.