Written by: Alex Gustafson, Agricultural Communication & Marketing Major I participated in an internship program with the YMCA at a day camp called Camp Ihduhapi. Having worked there as a counselor in the past, I had certain expectations upon being brought onto the team again as a nature educator. While other counselors predominantly were in charge of basic day camp, I was solely in charge of the nature-based camps such as Junior Rangers and fishing camp. Since my first year at camp I have been passionate about Junior Rangers. It holds a special place in my heart because it teaches kids so much in a hands-on way that many would never experience otherwise. Junior Rangers is actually a camp brought to Ihduhapi by the National Park Service. During camp, park rangers taught the kids to make seed balls to promote conservation as well as identify important prairie grasses and animal species in our state. At the end of the week-long camp, kids swear an oath similar to the oath park rangers say when sworn into their job. This provides a unique sense of community and belonging among the kids, and they are often sad to leave by the end of the day. In the past when I would lead this camp, a group known as Wilderness Inquiry would also take the kids and their counselors on a four-mile canoe trip down the Mississippi River. This was always my favorite part of camp because of the opportunity to identify different wildlife along the river as we paddled the canoes, with the kids excited to learn more.
Despite the struggles I faced with other counselors and issues I had with some of the campers themselves, my time with Camp Ihduhapi was a good one. I learned a lot about how to deal with stress and how to best engage kids so that they enjoyed their time learning versus seeing it as another version of school. I also enjoyed the fact that this internship gave me several opportunities to work with park rangers and explore career opportunities with National Park Services.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
January 2020
Categories |