New team and new team leader on board, we departed for Granbury, Texas on April Fools Day... which, I would say, was great foreshadowing to a round where I spent most of my time laughing.
My third round in AmeriCorps was spent working at Camp Fire USA Camp El Tesoro in a small town about an hour West of the Dallas / Fort Worth area. Before I go into the details of six weeks where I found out that I am really awful at prank wars, that Southern hospitality goes way longer than a long way (and that being vegan in Texas is extremely difficult), that chainsaw fuel in your eyeballs is kind of painful, that morning CrossFit is the best way to start your day and that Linda is pretty much the most amazing individual on this planet, let me summarize our project mission:
"The team's main focus will be teaching various curriculums for the Outdoor Education Program which includes fossils, ornithology, tree ID, wildflowers, grasses, animal habitats tracks and signs, maps, compasses, and geocaching, as well as Dutch over math and archery. Our goal is to inspire a sense of wonder in the natural world and establish stewardship, following along the lines of "We only protect what we love, love what we understand, and understand what we're taught," while making sure that the objective of FUN is not lost amid the chaos. Between schools we'll have a host of maintenance inspired activities to put to rights."
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| Sun 3 Version 3! |
After two days of travel, Sun 3 Version 3 arrived at our new home for the next 6 weeks - a camp cabin situated in the middle of Camp El Tesoro, a very beautiful and GREEN children's camp.
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| Our cabin |
We spent the first week learning all the different curriculums while trying to stay warm - Texas surprised us with a chilly welcome that none of us were prepared for (all I packed were shorts and t-shirts, good thing the BDUs allow for layers). Learning, or rather having my memory refreshed, on earth science curriculums was a lot of fun, especially since we played a bunch of games while doing so - "Screaming Pirate" quickly became a favorite. Also, the TL and ATLs (Alex, Kat and myself) got trained to drive the Ranger.
Having taught before, I thought I knew what to expect and I felt pretty prepared before our first group arrived. However, the difference between teaching one class a day and spending a day setting up classrooms, teaching six one hour classes in a row, serving the kids dinner, cleaning up after dinner and then taking down the classrooms is... well, pretty much everything. The days were long, but as I had mentioned before, I got very lucky with my team and team leader - we all worked hard and kept the spirits up through endless jokes (and picking on me, typical).
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| Teaching the kiddies about photosynthesis |
Through the "Mug of Fate," our names were selected at random and we then picked which classes we wanted to teach. In my time at camp, I taught Dutch Oven Math, Geocaching and helped Kat out with the Tree ID nature hike. Fun fact of the day: I am awful at identifying trees and plants, and pretty much every tree looks like an oak to me... As we found out, however, Kat is awesome at identifying trees (and getting asked on dates by 5th graders!), and Pete is a natural when it comes to birding.
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| Learning the art of archery |
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| BOONDANGLING! |
All frustration aside, I really enjoyed teaching kids about the importance of outdoor education. I know I am not the first to point this out but have you seen the obesity rate trend in the United States, and I am pretty sure that it has something to do with the steady decrease in time kids spend playing outside, and the steady increase in time they spend on the couch playing video games. Now, don't get me wrong, I love me some Super Mario Smash Bros, but you get my point. Seeing how happy the kids were to go on a nature hike or run around trying to find Geocaches reminded me of my childhood - running around playing with my brother and his friends, when the biggest problem in the world was the sunset, which meant we had to go inside.
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