2023-24 eeCorps Great Stories

What's it like to serve as an AmeriCorps member in the eeCorps? Hear from the members themselves:

2023-24 Member Stories

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Rosie DeVito, 23-24 member at Wild Bear Nature Center, writes:

Full-day summer camp days that are explorative in nature should also include exploration of who we are inside. During a usual nature camp day in my group, we all participate in a guided or unguided journaling activity, whether it be a meditative sit spot or a prompt that follows along with the weekly theme. During one of our journaling sessions, I was so extremely impressed by the emotional intelligence of most of the kids that I had in my group. My journal entry for that day, titled Safe in My Place, prompted the children to think about the differences between who they are on the inside- when they are alone or with the people closest to them- compared to the person they project to new people they meet- are they shy, more boisterous than usual, have different interests to fit in? After thinking on that for a minute, I had them envision who they are on the inside as a landscape or specific location. What features of this landscape compare to their innermost features? It was really beautiful to see all the kids' responses. Most kids didn't feel comfortable sharing with the whole group, but most shared privately with me. Let me describe some of the responses I got:

One boy, age 9, showed the group the picture he drew, which depicted a stream running down the middle of the page with green grass and large rocks along the banks. He described to us that when he is alone, his Safe Place is inside of his head where he can be his most calm. He told us that the running river represented his emotions flowing through him as he sits alone and has the ability to truly think. He described those big rocks as the comfy bed, chairs, and rug in his bedroom that offer him a comforting calm spot when he feels angry or upset, where he can open a book and read it as his negative emotions flow by him.

Another girl, age 9, showed just me her journal, in which she drew an open grassy meadow with flowers of varying colors all over the page. She told me that her innermost feelings are represented by all of the flower colors on the page, and when she is alone or with her close family, she is able to walk through her meadow and "pick them," meaning she processes them, and then is able to move on from the negative ones and cherish the happy ones.

Being with the children outdoors all day can be overwhelming- for them and for me sometimes- so to have moments like this where every member of the group (instructors included) can take a beat to breathe, relax, and think, is so precious. It is also the perfect activity that can prompt kids to tell each other (and me!) more about themselves, which strengthens group bonds and collaboration. 

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Kallan Carter, serving at CSU Spur, writes:

This past month, I started making my first ever lesson plan! This lesson plan is all about the water cycle or "hydrologic" cycle. I serve at CSU Spur as an Education Associate, and in my AmeriCorps term, I was tasked to make activities surrounding the three buildings we have on-site: Hydro - water, Terra - food and agriculture, and Vida - human/animal health. I wanted to focus on the water cycle because I noticed our education team still did not have an activity surrounding that for students. Using the Next Generation Science Standards, I narrowed down on one standard that fit the activity the most.

This lesson plan is for middle school aged children, and focuses on the four main components to the water cycle: transpiration, evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Students will act out the different parts to the cycle and perform their skits in front of one another. I am happy about this activity because I have never utilized an exhibit space before to create an activity, as well as I have never used a lesson plan format like I did for this program. It will also take place outside in the backyard space of hydro, which is awesome to note, because that was my goal for creating activities. I had the opportunity to facilitate this activity to my coworkers, as it served as a "mock" or practice program to receive feedback and see how much progress I had made on developing the program. I definitely was nervous, but to receive celebration on my efforts, and incredible advice from coworkers, was so valuable in the long run!

Overall, I am so happy to see these plans come into fruition, as I have progressed throughout my time here in AmeriCorps. I am excited to see how these programs get implemented in the future for school field trips, and to leave something behind before I leave CSU Spur. I received amazing feedback about these activities from my coworkers, and am looking forward to improving them!

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Isaiah Robyne, 23-24 member at Catamount Institute, writes:

We are all on our own journey. The kids who we guide on adventures in our summer camps are certainly on a journey, but we as counselors and educators are also on a journey. We sometimes forget that even as we are figuring out our own path, we can still help others. Recently, Catamount Institute brought on a number of new fulltime and seasonal hires. One of them is younger than me, and though well spoken one-on-one, loses his voice in a larger group, which is certainly something I can relate to. What's more, he struggled during a very physically intensive week of camp, feeling uncomfortable doing activities. Earlier in my term, I had expressed interest in taking on a leadership role, extending the same hospitality that Catamount had extended to me. So halfway through the week, I took  the opportunity to talk one on one with the counselor, discussing his struggles and strategies to improve. One thing I mentioned was that for camp, we are encouraged to find a “superpower”, something that the kids could look up to about us. I encouraged him to look past his shortcomings, and think about how he could lend his unique strengths to our team. Through the conversation and follow-up talks, he was able to grow in confidence and embrace his role on our team.

It has been difficult for me in the past to embrace the mantle of leadership. But seeing someone whose struggles I am familiar with, who I can provide wisdom and guidance, encourages me to take up that mantle. Our conversation got me thinking about my own “superpower”, and though I have a decent athletic and intellectual ability, I think my true power is talking to someone one-on-one, and helping them through tough times. This was solidified next week, when one of our kids was feeling so homesick, and I was able to talk, distract and eventually make them laugh. Through these conversations, I felt emboldened, and more confident in the journey I have taken, and the path of environmental education.

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Haley Perez, 23-24 member at Mountain Studies Institute, writes:

It was so fulfilling to be a part of the process for putting on MSI's annual San Juan Resilience Youth Summit! The Youth Summit is a day event that is geared towards middle and high school students who are given the opportunity to share or present on any environmental related topic they choose. This event is meant to mock a professional scientific symposium to expose our youth to a presentation style that they may encounter in the future of their academic or professional journeys. 

What makes this symposium different than, say, a science fair is that the entire event is student-led from having student facilitators to presenters, we try to engage the youth with one another as much as possible. There is also no competition component as we are encouraging youth to share their knowledge and passions with one another rather than competing. The first half of the day is dedicated to posters and presentations and the second half is dedicated to campus tours from different academic departments at Fort Lewis College. The tours are meant to give students a taste of college life while getting to explore something they may be interested in doing in the future. 

We try to recruit as many students as we can from all across the Southwest, which can be difficult when the event is usually during the week on a school day. However, this year we had an awesome turnout with over 80 students coming to participate. I was so impressed with the projects and presentations many of these students came up with and was excited to see the next generation of environmental leaders collaborating with their peers from other schools. Some students focused on approaches to natural pest control in greenhouses, others looking at composting methods, we even had one group of students build a water table simulator from scratch! 

There were so many bright minds at the summit that I felt an overwhelming sense of hope for our future in the face of climate change. It is events like this that make this position so rewarding. To see so many youth come together to teach and learn from each other how to protect our environment is one of the best parts of being in the field of environmental education.

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Grace Mullins, 23-24 member at Catamount Institute, writes:

Spring has been creeping in recently here in the Colorado Springs area, and that means that there's lots of birds to see! We took advantage of this with some of our E3 students recently and did some bird watching. It was some of our third graders first times using binoculars and bird guides, and we taught them all the do's and don'ts. Once on the trail we saw northern flickers, dark eyed juncos, a Steller's jay, red breasted nuthatches, and more! 

What was most exciting for me to see as an educator was how quiet and focused my class was while walking down the trails. It was the quietest I had ever heard them! They were so excited to see birds they didn't want to scare any away, and it worked, because we saw lots. When it was time for them to leave, I heard some students talking about how they'd love to birdwatch again sometime, and it made me smile! I love being able to share such a strong passion of mine with an eager group of students. 

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Maddy Martin, 23-24 member at Cherry Creek State Park, writes:

Prior to the April 8th eclipse I had never taught astronomy before. I was asked a week prior if I would like to organize an eclipse viewing for the general public including a program on why eclipses happen, eclipse glasses to pass around, and pin hole camera making. I said yes. What other opportunity would I have to teach an eclipse program? It was a little stressful trying to organize an event only one week in advance and I spent a lot of time reviewing information on eclipses to make sure I not only remembered the information but so I could present it confidently and in an interesting way. I know basic astronomy but it's not something I’d ever studied formally. The day came, I gave my lecture more or less flawlessly though I was talking about bit fast from nerves, and the kids were way more fascinated than I expected by the pin hole cameras. They had eclipse glasses too but their faces would light right up when they noticed the shadows changing. The adults were also excited. Denver only got 65% coverage and the world only became slightly dimmer but this did not impact the amount of excitement that spread all over the area. 

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Audrey Hicks, 23-24 member at Denver Audubon, writes:

You never know how special a lesson might feel to a student. I went into a classroom one day to teach a lesson about owl adaptations. First we discuss all of the different adaptations an owl has for survival while examining several taxidermy owls up close, then we dissect owl pellets and try to identify what they eat. Some kids act grossed out at first by the pellets, but it usually doesn't take long for everyone to be enthusiastically dissecting. It is an enjoyable lesson that I'd taught several times. 

One student on this particular day exclaimed as we were finishing up, "This is the best day of my life!" with all of the sincerity a fourth grader can muster. It made me smile and was a special moment that I'll remember for a long time. 

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Ryon Merrick, 23-24 member at The Greenway Foundation, writes:

So far I’ve mostly kept at bay the urge to make much sense of the last two months. Things have moved too fast and felt too big to really be understood. It’s gone entirely at odds with my constant tendency to contextualize this moment in the fullness of my life, to try to find a nice stable rock to stand on and look out at my world. 

Instead, I’ve just stood in the surf and let it toss me around a little. What other choice did I have? I agreed to the chaos, the upheaval. I sought out the change. A few months back I’d come to a place where I recognized I had to challenge myself. I needed to open up something new and put pen to paper on a new chapter. 

Since then things have moved fast. I’ve built confidence that I’m capable of absorbing a lesson, understanding the core goals and getting at them with a group. I’ve gained a lot of respect for the skill to move smoothly with the chaos inherent to running outdoor field-trips. I’ve begun to assure myself that I can be 30 years old and start fresh without judgment for myself. Those immediate challenges have settled in now and my eyes have started turning towards things I’ll only learn through slow hard work: things like behavioral management for children, things like the difference of working with a 5 year old as opposed to a 15 year old. 

These elements of the job intimidate me deeply. They cause me to freeze, locked in a paralyzing moment of debate, forced to act without experience or training. There’s no option for me to pause my gig for a quick masters in education or developmental psychology, I’ve just gotta make my best effort at acting compassionately and learning from what doesn’t work. 

It may come as no surprise that this is a bit of a terrifying experience. Even with the support of my coworkers and the visible truth that it’s something all of us are constantly challenging ourselves in, it feels lonely and terrifying. I’m shook by the thought of missing the mark and leaving a student feeling discounted, neglected or uncared for. But right now there’s no clean, disconnected, perfectly controlled circumstance for this sort of learning. Only the reality of absolute, flat out sprints to pack in as much learning and meaning as we can while we’ve got these kids on our trips. 

But hey, here I am pouring soul and philosophizing about my own path. Perhaps a bit more a reflection than a great story (falling into that ever-common pattern of contextualizing my experience). It felt like useful context though, after all what’s a great story without some exposition to place it. 

A few weeks back we had our first field-trip of the year in one of the parks near Denver’s downtown. It was one of the most nerve-wracking days I’d had so far. The safety concerns in those areas are significantly higher than our more secluded venues, the distractions are ten fold as dog walkers and suited businessmen on their lunch breaks work their way through the park. My coworkers and I discussed all of this in our morning meeting, they reassured me as best they could. 

Fortunately as soon as the kids arrived the anxiety I had about my own comfort faded out immediately. Suddenly I was host to this energetic, distracted band of 40 first graders. The class was a challenge but they were absolute sweethearts. I felt desperately shaky dropping into new lessons I’d never taught to a full audience but once momentum built things started to feel easier, more natural. 

I’ve had to learn that keeping momentum is crucial to managing a group of young students. However, that’s a luxury which isn’t often afforded to me in my novice state. On this day in particular we had a student absolutely unable to sit with the rest of the class for fear of dirtying her dress. I’m still getting used to how you willingly bend a structure for the benefit of moving the group forward, it’s something I find myself often locking up with momentarily, losing some of that momentum. 

It was clear learning outside didn’t feel particularly comfortable for her. This 1st grader showed up to the field-trip in a beautiful new blue dress, her sleeves adorned with neatly tied bows and her feet in chunky little heels. I hadn’t even really noticed during our first activity where we’d been running around a field pretending to be deer. I’d shown up in thick, weather resistant climbing pants and torn up, muddy approach shoes. We were speaking to each other across a chasm of expectation. 

I opted to let her stand and requested she stay next to me during the activity to keep her attention. I was worried initially that her standing might lead to her wandering off, or moving around or setting the class off to a bit more distraction. No, she stood quietly next to me, mostly engaged the entire time but clearly still nervous, a bit uncertain about the activity at hand. She was not at all amused by the replica of squirrel scat we used as a clue to help lead the class to the identity of a mysterious animal in our park. There was a barrier there, some fear I couldn’t know the source of, something keeping her from connection and comfort. 

This discomfort and uncertainty for her persisted through the day but came to a head at lunch. We were all settling down to eat on a grassy hill. The class stampeded over as a herd, threw down their backpacks and tumbled to the ground to finally eat the food they’d probably been thinking about for hours. 

But for her, this was no relief. She found herself stuck in a bit of a loop. She was tired and wanted to sit and eat but was still full of anxiety at the prospect of sitting on the ground and dirtying her clothes. I just happened to be the one standing next to her when this reality set in. I tried to assure her the grass was nice and clean. I sat down next to her, trying to provide some assurance but I was still only seeing from my perspective. She was experiencing genuine anxiety at the suggestion, I could see her approaching the point of tears. 

And I just sort of froze. I could feel the absolutism of the conflict in her head. She couldn’t stand any longer but couldn’t sit to find relief. She was held in suspension between these two realities, both exerting a great force on her. I knew that feeling, knew how painful it was and how powerless you could feel faced with your own inability to reach resolution. I felt so absolutely powerless to help. Both of us, on a nice grassy hill, in the sun at our own limit. 

I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard of the idea in storytelling of “Deus Ex Machina”. It tends to refer to a sudden and forced resolution to a carefully built problem. I find it is generally a deeply disappointing storytelling device. Oh, to have a beautifully constructed problem aimlessly solved by a stroke of god. It often feels cheap and unearned. But, boy howdy, as a lived moment it felt like a genuine blessing. 

Sitting there, next to this young mind, struggling between two intense feelings, I realized I had a flannel attached to the side of my backpack, something easily offered to help remedy that deep internal conflict. So she had her own little picnic blanket. She accepted it, and I watched this deep uncertainty she’d been carrying through the day melt immediately. Her face was like the sun breaking through the clouds. Her storm had cleared so quickly and easily and it seemed she shifted into a space of genuinely enjoying being outside. 

I’ve sat with this moment since it happened. I don’t feel able yet to fully understand how such a small moment, something that from my view was a passing gesture, seemed to fundamentally shift this child’s reality. For the rest of the day she was sunbeams and rainbows. Absolutely present, absolutely enthralled with the space around her. She seemed to be more excited than anyone else to be in the park. 

Was this the result of a relief she felt at her moment of resolution? Was it a result of a sense of safety and connection she may have felt for me as a teacher? I can’t say but it clarified something for me absolutely. When my coworkers discuss our priorities as educators, our primary goal is to build a foundation of safety. Without it, there is no chance for purposeful education let alone fun. 

She simply could not relax, couldn’t feel safe, couldn’t let herself be present in the space without a little barrier between her and the park we were sharing. That one layer of fabric gave her the chance to form a much, much deeper connection. It opened her up to having fun, it let her accept what we had to offer.

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Wendy Griesan, serving at Colorado Canyons Association, writes:

I supported The Nature Connection's annual event 'Winter Ecology Days' on the Grand Mesa last week. In addition to it being my third program of the spring - which is already exciting - it allowed me to witness once again the power of inclusion. I co-led a station discussing winter adaptations for the fauna on the Mesa, and we rotated through 4 groups that day. 

In several groups there were some more timid girls that were more reluctant to participate, so I made an effort to include them in the STEM lesson. This was intuitive enough. But, in my last group of the day, we had a boy with some sort of disability. School staff was quick to correct his talking over people and other behaviors. I know negative reinforcement is so much less effective than positive reinforcement, so I chose to try and include him in our discussion. Once I began calling on him, he became so much more engaged and happy to be there. 

It's well worth the extra bit of time and effort to include some of these more disruptive students in our lessons. This creates a safe space, demonstrates to others how to include someone, and often leads to a more engaged audience.

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Cy Hassell, serving at The Nature Connection, writes:

Light breaks through the trees over the Grand Mesa, as the Nature Connection Suburban winds its way over scenic Highway 65 with a trailer full of cross country skis, boots, and poles in tow. I sit in the passenger seat, thinking back to all the roads I took to get me where I am today, and smile.

As we arrive into the parking lot of the County Line trail system, I think back to the days I used to watch the sun rise and set from inside of a retail store. I am reminded how grateful I am to be able to work outside, and to do meaningful work. We park, and begin to unload the trailer and Suburban, faster this time than the last. We set up benches and carpets into an area for kids to get booted up, and line up bins of ski boots by size. I make my way over to the snowpit station, and begin shoveling out the snow that has filled it in over the weekend.

The bus arrives, and we do a quick talk to the kids about leaving their bags and lunches on the bus, but to use the restroom quickly before splitting up into groups for stations. I take my group down to the snowpit, where I explain how snowpack fills up our rivers and reservoirs come summertime, and how important that is. I explain how there will not be any avalanches where we are cross country skiing, but I do hardness tests, and a compression test with my avy shovel to teach the kids about how a trigger, weak snow layers, and an incline can start an avalanche in other areas with steeper terrain.

We then head to our animal adaptations station. I hold up various different animal pelts donated by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and let the kids guess what animal it is, and if it is an animal that is adapted for the snowy climate on the mesa. Together, we pinpoint what attributes and qualities each animal is showing to have, or not showing, that makes it possible for them to survive these harsh winters.

Next, we gather up the group onto the benches, where we assist in getting them in the right size boot. We get them their skis 1 by 1, and poles, and head down to a big flat spot on the groomed trail. There, we will explain how the bindings work, and do a quick demonstration on the easiest way to get back onto your skis if you have fallen. Then, whoosh! We head down the trail in a semi-chaotic organized group, making our way about 2.5 kilometers down the Dog Loop trail and back. We stop at the top of the hill to explain the easiest way down, keeping our body leaning forward, and staying in the tracks. And again, at the bottom of a climb, explaining the duck walk method of climbing up in skis.

We return tired and thirsty, but it is just in time for lunch. The kids eat while we begin loading up our gear, strapping the racks of skis and poles back down, and loading up the boot bins. It’s time to head back to school for our 4th graders. Nilam heads to the bus to conduct a quick survey for data collection, and we group up one last time with our partners and volunteers for a debrief.

It’s another perfect day of our “Skis For Kids” 4th grade program. The debrief always feels so nice to hear positive feedback and ways we can grow/do things differently. Each time is a wonderful experience for our students and partners.

The snow begins to lightly fall, and as I am back in the Suburban heading back to the Nature Connection, I can’t help but be present in these moments. Thinking back to the days when work was just work, but that’s all in the past now. Now, what I do for work is serving my community with some great experiences that I once had as a kid, that made me so passionate about the outdoors. And being with our team and partners and sharing that passion to another generation is one of the greatest feelings.

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Rebeca Moreno Villarreal, 23-24 member at Bluff Lake Nature Center, writes:

In February, we planned a couple of field trips for our Outdoors Explorers Program (OEP) students. This is to keep them out of the colder Colorado winter weather. On these days we have visited CSU Spur, a free educational destination in Denver - and fellow eeCorps host site! - with a focus on food, water, and health research and innovation. 

On our first field trip, it was the first time there for most of our students and it was a very new environment for them as we are usually outside all day and this day we were inside a building and more importantly, in a classroom. The kids' natural curiosity took over as we toured all the buildings. They naturally touched everything and talked to everyone. Two of my students were fascinated by a huge plant wall and immediately started to analyze how these plants were growing vertically and the mechanisms behind it. Other students loved the sand interactive table and started building a dam to prevent a flood. The most surprising part of it all is that one of our students brought a couple of chess boards and everyone loved playing chess during free time in the classroom! 

This just goes to show students can be explorers in the outdoors and the indoors as their curiosity never stops.

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Kelsi Massengale, 23-24 member at Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, writes:

The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies received a request to conduct a bird field-sketching program to students an arts pathway at a local high school. This program, called "Not a Still Life," had been developed by a previous staff member several years ago and needed some tweaking before the February 9th program. I worked with two of my coworkers to update the lesson plan to highlight more habitats, field-sketching techniques, and student inquiry. While all three of us had an interest in art (and of course, birds), we had not taught the program before and were unsure of the artistic interests and abilities of the students in the five sessions we were about to teach. We wanted to make sure the students learned more about birds, new artistic techniques, and how their art could play a role in the scientific community-- all in 45 minutes.

Our worries quickly diminished after the first session that Friday morning, as students eagerly crowded around tables to explore the mini habitats we had created. Students picked a seat at one of the four Colorado habitats (alpine tundra, shortgrass prairie, wetland, and city) and investigated the owl, duck, and hawk mounts, feathers, plants, and other biofacts that made up their mini habitat. After learning about their space, students learned how to quickly capture features of birds in the field, practicing with the mounts and biofacts of their table's habitat. We then walked through field-sketch annotations, using phrases like "I notice," "I wonder," and "I'm reminded of" to spark curiosity and connections to the subject of the sketches. By the end of the day, my coworkers and I had seen over 80 students and were blown away by their art and enthusiasm. Through their art and annotations, we knew that those kids had grown a new connections to birds and the beauty they bring to our lives.

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Nilam Hypio, 23-24 member at The Nature Connection, writes:

Pop-up ski days are always a blast because you never know what or who you are going to see when helping families put on their ski boots or ski gear. Working with the Nature Connection, we have a handful of days that are dedicated to going up on the Grand Mesa and providing skis, boots and poles to anyone who would like to try to cross-country ski. Usually on (hopefully sunny) Saturdays, we are situated at a trailhead ready to start the day outside and provide an alternative form of exercise that the whole family can enjoy. Partnering with the Grand Mesa Nordic Council, it was a successful day of kids lessons and races.

One interaction that really stood out to me was this family that had just moved to the Western Slope and were looking into more ways to be active on the Grand Mesa. They had heard about this event through our website and were SO excited to try cross-country skiing for the first time! This family was there from the time we had arrived and quite literally the last family to arrive back to our trailer with tired, but happy faces. The mom had said that despite the cold wind and weather, they all had a fantastic time and were motivated to get skis of their own.

Another interaction was with a previous classmate of mine that I had gone to school with up until high school. She now has a family of her own and had brought her son and husband to try skiing. Her son was about three years old and had picked up skiing right away! She ended up texting me a few days later saying that her son really wanted to go "saying" again. It was a special moment because my mom had taught my classmate to ski, and was her son's ski instructor that day.

To have that connection and second-generation of skiing was a great way to end the day.

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Katie Morrow, 23-24 member at CSU Spur, writes:

As I am sure every environmentalist can relate to, the path often can feel hopeless. Reading about the environment can lead to discouragement and apathy. To make matters worse, it feels like arguments about the best course of action never seem to end. Lucky for environmentalists, there are sparks all around that help drive the movement forward. Most of mine come from the students.

Earlier this month, I was facilitating a field trip for a high school down in Pueblo. Part of the experience was learning about river erosion and water rights through building a community on the stream table. Often, groups do a decent job creating a city that partially survives the flooding of the table. Collaboration happens with guidance and the students come out learning something. However, these particular students rose exceptionally to the challenge. The whole group worked together, and any complications that arose were treated with a conversation. The team made one of the best communities I’ve seen. All the houses were placed in safe areas, the water was properly diverted, and there was enough farmland. Not to mention, they engineered bridges that survived the “flash flood”. Groups like this are such an inspiration. While there will always be arguments in the White House, there will also always be individuals working together to make the collective better. Maybe, just maybe, that will be enough.

Even though it was technically my responsibility to teach them about the world, they ended up inspiring me.

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Johanna Landmark, 23-24 member at River Watch, writes:

Since November, I have been leading some of River Watch's visits to high schools and middle schools. I've really enjoyed connecting with students all over the state because I've gained insight into how their passion for rivers and water conservation manifests differently based on various backgrounds and local interests. Every volunteer in River Watch has such specific experiences with water that reveal a little about their lived experiences.

For instance, some students at Bayfield HS had extensive knowledge of how water  plays into ranching and agriculture from growing up in a rural community. Other students have fallen in love with rivers through fly fishing or rafting in the Rocky Mountains, while others simply became interested by living near rivers or streams. A lot of students are drawn to River Watch by aspirations to become chemists or environmental scientists. I love that I get to learn about these students' lives and passions through discussions of water and chemistry. These connections demonstrate the power of environmental education in that it asks kids to make their own observations about themselves and the physical world around them in an academic setting.

In a society where it is increasingly difficult to feel connected to nature, water represents one basic connection that most, if not all, human beings share with the planet. Leading these educational sessions has encouraged me to find these connections in a short amount of time, and I've been revisiting the origins of my own connection to the environment through these discussions with others. Becoming an environmental educator has not only helped me to educate others but to educate myself on why protecting the environment is so important. I've learned this in my formal education, but actually teaching these concepts has reinforced their importance in my own life.

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Micah Rogers, serving at School Food Project, writes:

This December we hosted our first field trip of the season to the Culinary Center and Greenhouse. Going into this event, I was nervous. This class of 40 second graders were the largest and youngest group that we have hosted. As Miriam (eeCorps member 21-22 and 22-23, now full-time staff at School Food Project!) and I planned the activities, my anxieties grew. Would we be able to keep the attention of the students for long enough? Would we have enough space for everyone?

When the morning of the field trip came, the students filed into the Culinary Center bubbling with infectious excitement. When we introduced our head chef several of the kids called out “Do you make our pizza!?” The students enthusiastically answered our questions about their knowledge of school lunch, greenhouses, seasonal food, and growing plants. In the greenhouse, I led a lesson on local and seasonal food. Curiosities were answered about why different plants grow in different seasons and what foods are grown near us. As the students filled in their food wheels with their favorite produce, the adult volunteers helped them remember to share and be mindful of others personal space.

As we ended our visit, the students continued to show off their bean buddies, seasonal food wheels, and the knowledge they gained about where their school food comes from. After this successful field trip my nerves have calmed, and I feel prepared to lead more in the near future!

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Roisin McCune, 23-24 member at Bluff Lake Nature Center, writes:

Throughout November we worked with our homeschool students to build up their teamwork skills. We did many activities throughout the month that had them working  in teams together to complete different activities in pairs, small groups, and as a whole class. Throughout the month I saw these kids get better and better at working and communicating as a team during our activities and during times we weren’t doing any activities!

At the end of the month, while the kids were learning about shelter building, we worked together as a whole group and every single one of our students helped to build a structure out of logs and had a great time working with others!

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Caitlin Hochwald, 23-24 member at Thorne Nature Experience, writes:

Once upon a time, in preschool land along Coal Creek, some children played and danced around an old, wise cottonwood. Some kids were climbing porcupines, easily moving up, down, and across the trunk of this tree and some low-growing branches. The children were engaged in active imaginative play and laughter spilled out of their wee mouths.

Also standing beside the tree was one child with a curious heart and a shimmering smile whom the teachers perceived as more reserved than his peers. He watched his friends climb across this incredible 10 ft long branch over and over again. After observing for some time, this boy expressed interest in also wanting to climb across this welcoming branch (that was also a rocket ship, jungle vine, bridge over lava, etc.). He called for a teacher’s

attention and signaled that he wanted help getting onto this branch. Because the preschool teachers encouraged safe exploration and body confidence and awareness, the teachers would not help him, but they did model where he could place his hands and feet to safely mount this tree. With a visual mirror for his body, verbal support, and close physical proximity of a teacher in case he fell, the little boy had newfound courage. He worked through frustration and fear to begin the journey across the tree. He moved slowly and carefully, and with each movement grew more confident as he rode the cottonwood spaceship.

The thrill of climbing along with cheers of enthusiasm helped the preschooler to move all the way to the end of the branch where he hopped off and decided to climb the tree at least ten more times. He was filled with wonder, strength, and delight at the discovery of a new skill. The little boy learned that courage and the support of caring friends and teachers can help us overcome our fears and experience the world in new and exciting ways.

The End!

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Veronica Cruz, 23-24 member at Bluff Lake Nature Center, writes:

Serving at Bluff Lake Nature Center has been an amazing experience so far, but when thinking about my first full month of service, one memory comes to mind. When having free time, a student found a grasshopper- this is by no means uncommon, as most students make a mission out of collecting as many different insects as “pets” as possible. As we were transitioning activities, I heard this student call me over. They were confused as the grasshopper fell out of their hand and something suddenly popped out of it. This turned out to be a baby grasshopper.

This student was so excited to show the rest of the class their discovery and later spent time making a habitat for the mother and child grasshoppers. It was so cool to see students in awe of nature, even if they didn’t completely understand grasshopper behavior in caring (or lack thereof) for their offspring.

I hope that I can utilize my service term in a way to further cultivate the curiosity and wonder I saw in my students that day.

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