Growing with Students in the Outdoors

Warm Beach Outdoor School loves a good science investigation! What does it take to grow? Our participation with the Washington Outdoor School Coalition inspires us to look beyond the easy answers to that question (water, fuel/food, space, and energy/sunlight) and look all around us at the interconnections we need.

Creation provides a living example of the way God moves among us. Sometimes we miss the forest if we are only studying one tree. It’s easy to get caught assuming that a tree (or any one organism) simply competes for the resources it needs in a natural king of the hill survival competition. More than nitrogen is shared in the soil between root systems.

Richard Grant shares in an article for Smithsonian Magazine[JR1.1] that “Forest trees have evolved to live in cooperative, interdependent relationships, maintained by communication and a collective intelligence similar to an insect colony. These soaring columns of living wood draw the eye upward to their outspreading crowns, but the real action is taking place underground, just a few inches below our feet.”

We invite you to pray for our incredible team of naturalists, volunteers. and staff, returning and newly exploring, especially through the month of April while we dive into training. They will learn how to encourage and ignite wonder as they support students in their own science investigations. For we know curiosity sparked in a canoe will carry our students much farther than a worksheet ever could.

What does it take to grow? It takes friendship, cooperation, tackling challenges as a team, and time to reflect. It takes a transformational experience, maybe with a caring person at a place like Warm Beach Camp, guiding students to awaken the art of noticing as an eagle soars overhead. If you are interested in learning more about the Warm Beach Camp Outdoor School program, click HERE. 

– Erin Simmons, Outdoor School Manager
Warm Beach Camp