By Melanie Pincus
Seven elementary-school aged students crowd around the shore of a small lake at Brethren Woods Camp and Retreat Center, tossing pieces of hamburger buns toward a section of the water.
“There’s a turtle,” they say in unison, pulling friends from their positions further inland examining leaves and insects to join them.
Pieces of bread were thrown into the pond by Annie Snow and Claire Keller so that fish and turtles would pop up at Camp Brethren Woods during “Camp Adventure”. Learning about wildlife was an important topic for staff member, at Camp Brethren Woods, Shanon Flaten. “We have to get young ages excited so that they are excited to protect it, spend time in it, and preserve it for future generations,” said Flaten. Photo by Allison Larrick.
Brethren Woods staff member Sharon Flaten said multiple turtles live on the campsite, including a recently sighted snapping turtle. While snapping turtles are not considered at risk for extinction, the World Wildlife Foundation lists nearly all species of sea turtles as endangered. Flaten said it is important for students to learn about nature so they can contribute to its preservation.
“From the scientific nature side of things, we have to protect it. Otherwise certain very important parts of our ecosystem are going to disappear,” Flaten said. “So we have to get young ages excited [about nature] so that they are excited to protect it and spend time in it and preserve it for future generations.”
She said she hopes students’ appreciation for nature increases as a result of their experiences at Brethren Woods.
“[I hope they learn] just that they want to be outside more, because we’re definitely getting more towards everything’s technologically based and they don’t do this as much,” Flaten said. “I mean honestly, they love this.”
Head counselor of Brethren Woods’ summer camp Amanda Helfrich worked with students on teamwork skills.
“The point of team-building activities in general is to complete a task as a group, but also the task is just the first step in that,” Helfrich said. “It’s mostly just to figure out how to work together as a group and how to communicate and how to problem solve in creative ways and working together to find a solution.”
She said these skills could be useful in efforts to preserve the environment.
The students attending the fieldtrip at Camp Brethren Woods during “Camp Adventure” listen intentally to their classmates while sharing their names and their favorite ice cream flavor. The students soon discovered that many of their peers enjoyed flavors such as mint chocolate chip and even honey ginger snap. Photo by Allison Larrick.
“We all kind of have to work together to preserve this environment and care for nature, so I think it can definitely play into that,” she said.
Third grader Macy Waid said she enjoyed spending time at Brethren Woods.
“[Brethren Woods] is green, my favorite color, and there are lots of pretty flowers,” she said. “There’s lots of nature and good smells.”
At camp Brethren Wood a cattail is the subject of a heated debate.
“Look, it’s corn,” camper Guy Von Such said.
“Corn’s not brown,” camper Jason Curry said.
Curry and Von Such are two campers in Camp Adventure program. The camp runs for one week and visited Camp Brethren Woods, a Christian campsite and retreat center. Brethren Woods has many activities where kids can experience the outdoors such as canoeing and hiking.
Camp Counselor Erin Miller said she realizes that many of her students are city kids and aren’t exposed to the beauty of the outdoors.
“The kids come from a city school so most of the kids don’t get to spend a lot of time in the woods and the lake and things like that,” Miller said.
The campers were led down to a lake where they paddled around in canoes and fed the fish. The students were given a scavenger hunt if they were waiting for their turn in a canoe. The scavenger hunt gave students a chance to observe the wildlife of the campsite as many of them watched turtles and gasped when fish ate their bread.
Using their knowledge about canoeing, Jack Young, Drew Lankford, and Theo Thompson paddle through the pond at Camp Brethren Woods during “Camp Adventure”. Young, Lankford, and Thompson had plenty of close run-ins with trees surrounding the pond. “I think it is important to preserve nature because a lot of people are starting to cut down more and more trees,” said 2nd grader, Thompson. Photo by Allison Larrick.
“It was my first time being able to paddle by myself with me being able to steer,” camper Dylan Mayard said.
Many of the campers were able to observe wildlife and given the chance to identify it. A counselor showed campers Kevin Strother and Wyatt Alexander what leaves were safe to touch and what leaves were dangerous as well as where to find wildlife.
“We can experience things that we’ve never experienced,” Strother said.
Many of the students showed their eagerness to get on the water as when a Brethren Woods instructor Sharon Flaten asked if they wanted to canoe. Immediately the air filled with tiny hands and chatter of seeing fish as they all partnered up.
“When we were canoeing we saw a big fish, and we were on top of the water and felt like I could reach out and touch it,” camper Macey Waid said.
The kids were led to a field after their scavenger hunt and canoeing adventure where a counselor waiting to lead them through a series of team-building games such as having to order themselves by birthday and height.
Wyatt Alexander runs back to his group after his scavenger hunt at Camp Brethren Woods during “Camp Adventure”. The kids were allowed to explore all around the pond and find things to check off of a list. Photo by Allison Larrick.
“We worked really hard on communication, problem solving, being able to take a challenge and come to a solution as a group,“ Miller said.
Head of the camp counseling Amanda Helfrich majored in outdoor ministry and adventure leadership from Eastern Mennonite University and she believes exposure to the outdoors is very important for children’s learning.
“It can do so much for learning and about learning how to care for nature but also learning how we as humans interact with nature,” Helfirch said. “There’s something to be said for experiencing things firsthand. It’s one thing to read about an animal or see it on the internet, but it’s another thing to actually see it and watch it.”
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