MESD Outdoor School
As a Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior in high school, I volunteered to be a counselor at MESD outdoor school where I was responsible for a cabin of fourth graders and assisted teaching them environmental science. At camp Namanu, I was challenged to apply the social, scientific, and artistic knowledge I had cultivated at Arbor School.
While working at Namanu I felt confident, important, and intelligent. My knowledge about nature was cherished, deepened, and celebrated. One of the most rewarding things I have ever done is teach children about the outdoors. At first, it was astonishing to see that some of the campers had never spent much time outside because I had grown up in the barns, orchards, and forests of Arbor. It was amazing to watch campers transform from scared of the outdoors to happily immersing themselves in all camp activities. Below is a story that encapsulates the impact hat I was able to make at outdoor school:
It was seventy degrees and sunny when the kids arrived and poured out from leather seats complaining of heat and dust. What I had imagined as a week of enjoying nature slowly turned into a struggle to get sixth graders to participate in outdoor activities. On the second day of the trip, I was weary to teach my field study because the children rolled their eyes at learning what I had to teach them about the chemistry and its effects on water dwelling creatures. I began talking to the ten students who stood next to me at the ponds edge. “Water turbidity is the cloudiness of water that is caused by particles floating in the liquid…” I was engulfed in my lesson plan when out of the corner of my eye I saw a boy named Kyle sneak away from the group to pick up a large stick. He promptly began to whack the stick against the ground in an attempt to kill insects. “Hey Kyle would you mind leaving nature the way you found it and rejoin the group?” I called hesitantly He looked at me, grunted, and continued to wander around just outside of the groups circle, dragging his stick behind him and pinching up his nose and eyebrows into a sneer. When I finished explaining the layers of still water, I knelt at the edge of the murky pond and looked closely at the glassy waters edge. Just below the surface, I could see the faint outline of a delicate firebelly newt. I had befriended many of these creatures at Arbor and knew just what to do. I darted my hand into the cool water and plucked out the newt. I held it firmly, but not too tight as its wriggling body brushed its rough skin againsts the palms of my closed hands. I approached Kyle with my cupped hands dripping water. He frowned. “Kyle I brought something to show you.” I opened my hands to reveal the little newt, with clear black eyes. Kyle’s eyes opened wide like the newts and the stick slipped from his fist. He bent over my hands and watched the newt intently as I explained to him how the firebelly species hunts for worms. “Have you ever held a newt?” I asked “No. I’ve never seen a newt or a natural pond” Kyle said under his breath. At this moment, I realized that I was lucky to have exposure to the outdoors and there are kids who live in Oregon who have never appreciated it beauty. Kids like Kyle have never been camping or exploring in the outdoors. Being able to give students some of their first experiences with nature was an amazing opportunity and my approach to teaching them had to be more than memorizing facts to record. I thought of Arbor and the magical hours I spent absorbing the wonders of the outdoors. In order to teach the students about the outdoors, I knew I had to use the skills I learned at arbor to spark their attention. “Would you like to hold it Klye?” He nodded and I transferred the little Newt into his unclenched fists. A grin crept across his lips and he knelt down to splash water onto the rough skin. Later that day, I heard Kyle boasting to his friends about how he was able to hold a Newt and explaining that the “fire-belly” secretes toxins.
Kyle taught me that I have the ability to show people how amazing and important nature is. Helping people feel connected to nature is the first step to cultivating the global compassion for the environment that is necessary for changing human behavior to stop climate change. Being able to share my excitement about dirt, creatures, and plants at Namanu made me realize that I wanted to do it for the rest of my life.
Working at outdoor school also brought to my attention the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to STEAM (the “A” for art) in education systems. This movement works to integrate art and design into more inquiry based subjects because their combination is proven to increase productivity and comprehension in the classroom (Radziwill, Benton, & Moellers).Outdoor school teaches kids about environmental science through a variety of methods including art projects. This is similar to my experience at Arbor and from personal experience it is a very beneficial method.
To learn more about the Multnomah Education Service District Outdoor school program or to sign up to be a counselor, visit:
