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Volume 4, Issue 1

         

During their stay, the students visited the beach to conduct scientific samplings for sand crabs.

ribbons, eliminating the need for fluorescent bulbs. The children learn to conserve natural resources by weighing the food leftover on their plates and picking up trash to earn "Earth Awards." At night, the sixth graders snuggle down in bunks in a heated cabin with about ten of their student friends and a high school counselor. The counselor acts as their big brothers and sisters from dawn until dusk, waking them up in the morning, making sure they have their water bottles filled and food in their stomachs, setting their silly sixth-grade rumors straight, holding their hands when they get scared, and hugging them when they're homesick.

This year I had so many excuses not to go: school, work, college... So, why did I leave all those important things behind me to take care of a bunch of little sixth graders in the forest? I went home with more reasons than I'd left with. For counselors, Outdoor school is:

1.  A retreat. It's a place to connect with nature by enveloping your face in sunshine and your feet in mud.

2.  A natural environment. The naturalists are incredible. The leader of my trail group, "Fog," not only acted as a human encyclopedia, he cracked jokes as we walked to keep the kids laughing. Fog showed us the most amazing creatures and told stories about the ecosystems. By the end of the week, the girls in my cabin were practically begging me to take them to "class."

3.  An adventure. The activities and sites seen are as unpredictable as the forest animals that roam the hills. What you do depends on the nonexistent attention spans of the middle schoolers and the weather.

4.  A hate-free zone. For every put-down the children say, they must say three "put-ups" without being asked. Miraculously, the rule works. All the counselors are volunteers, so everyone has good intentions.

5.  A site to study children. I hope to study child/developmental psychology in college and Outdoor school gave me a head-start exposing me to over 100 preteens. If you're at all interested in having children, this will help you understand them. After spending twenty-four hours a day for a week with my girls, I could write novels about them.

6.  A place unlike any other. I can't think of any other schools that encourage children to kiss banana slugs or sing songs about animal dung.

7.  A family. Have you ever wanted to have a little sibling? How about nine of them that look up to you like you're some sort of god?

8.  Worth it! You can make up a week of school work over the weekend and find substitutes to cover your shifts. You cannot go back in time to experience this exciting endeavor or to make a difference in the lives of middle school students. Please do not let demanding teachers or competitive colleges get in your way. Colleges look favorably on students who take initiative to help those who are in need. Homework can wait. Sixth-graders need caring, compassionate role models like you at Outdoor School.

Thanks again, Burl!

   Sincerely,

   Erin Gaab, Castro Valley High School Senior

Sand crabs are measured with calipers, then flipped over to determine the sex and whether females are clutching eggs

Students insert a 6” tube 10 inches deep to collect the sample, then tip it over, grab the bottom and pull it out.