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| Hiking On Up Lobo Hill |
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| Hanging in Hammocks at the Art Fair |
For the past twenty days, my main attention has been focused on 16-high school students from all over the country and the globe! Our program, eXpressions in Nature and Art used experiences in nature to build identity and relationships through creative expression informed by science and the natural world. Many of these students that I had the honor of teaching for the past three weeks were incredibly talented (not just artistically, but intellectually, emotionally, athletically, and so on). The one thing I admired through this program was the diversity and richness of types of individuals coming into this program. We had individuals that were here on scholarship to individuals that had family in the GYE and were here on vacation. There were students that did not speak English as their primary language to individuals that did not speak Spanish. Some students were not even interested in art, but applied for this course anyway. The list of unique characteristics and qualities of our students goes on and on.
High school can be one challenging age groups for educators, and well for other high schoolers. These students definitely challenged us as their friends, their instructors, their role models, and their guides through not just program time and lessons, but on real-life/world scenarios and topics. It definitely reminded me of my time working with my summer counselors back at the Delaware Nature Society. You are pushed in two different directions: one - where you are their adviser, their manager, their boss and two - where you want to be their friend and earn their respect. That battle was constantly challenged and trailed through the program. You learn to know boundaries, communicate clearly, and set expectations in the proper way, but still earn that respect and 'friend' level with your students.
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| Oh, Helium Stick... |
The first few days were challenging: trying to get them out of their comfort zones, getting them to open up, making new friendships, and exploring and getting used to their new home for the next 20-days. Through team-builders, activities, and hikes around the GYE, our students were slowly getting used to this new program, this new place, to each other, and to their instructors. And well...so were the instructors!
Everyday, as we explored the Tetons and the GYE, we incorporated a variety of artistic mediums for them to express what they had learned, their feelings, their experiences, their emotions, everything. From drawing, to natural plant dyes, to poetry, to storytelling, they were able to challenge themselves and find their creative inner artist - whether they knew they had one or not.
Intermixed with the art, we took them backcountry camping, rafting, canoeing, front country camping, hiking, and so on!
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Soaking in the Creek After Lots of Hiking
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| Canoeing at String Lake |
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| Cooking Plants to Make Natural Dyes |
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Evening Program in the Tent
Escaping the Mosquitos
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| Sand Hill Cranes Out of Natural Materials |
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| Carrying Out the Huge Mosquito Tent |
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| Liam Teaching About Mountaineering and Mountain Men of the Tetons |
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| Look at Our View! |
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| Team Fancy Pants Backcountry Instructors! |
For about 4-5 days half-way through the program, we split our students into two groups for our backcountry trip. Jordan, me, and Leah were the instructors for one group and Heather, Mary Beth, and Alex were the instructors for our second group. Our group was filled with some of the stronger hikers, while the group had more of the beginners. At first, we thought this might be a decent solution as far as distance, but we definitely noticed differences in morale between the groups. I am not going to complain, but our group was stinkin' awesome! So driven, so positive, and willing to get things done. I know we definitely gave them a lot of options for choices on the schedule and a lot of trust and freedom when it came to 'Community Time.' The students got a long really well and pushed and supported each other through challenges: such as huge lightning, thunder storms and the mosquito plague! The students also did 'Each One, Team One's' for each other based on a variety of natural history and cultural topics of the area (this was similar to what the grad students did on our own backcountry trip). They performed really well - you could clearly tell they took time before the backcountry trip to research their topic and put thought into how they would teach us about it. They were incredibly creative about it too!
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| Summit Posing After Summiting 8190' in the Bridger-Teton National Forest! |
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| Examining Silica! |
During the last week of the program, we took the crew up to Yellowstone for a 5-day Jellystone Exploration. This was super fun - I know for many of us instructors, we absolutely love Yellowstone! To share our passion and love for that place with our students was beyond priceless. Having them learn about the geology and see the hydrothermal features up close was beyond awesome, to checking out the wolf rehabilitation pen in Rose Creek, to seeing wolves and grizzlies up close (while being separated by a fence of course!). There were some emotional times too - not just because of the culture and history of the national park, but our students knew these moments were the last moments we would all be sharing since our program was slowly coming to an end. Overall, the students loved being in Yellowstone (at least from what I could tell). We definitely gave them an experience of Yellowstone that was beyond the traditional boardwalks and geysers - but filled with hikes, campfires, animals, history, culture, a double rainbow, and a huge hailstorm; not to mention lots of memories and laughter.
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| Wolf Reintroduction Reflection at Rose Creek Pen |
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| Baby Black Bear Cubs on the Side of the Road! |
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| Momma and Babes |
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| Elk Skull Find Up to Rose Creek |
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| Pastel Drawing at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone |
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| Double Rainbow After the Scariest Hail/Thunderstorm Ever! |
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| Water Color Painting at Grand Prismatic |
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| Water Color Painting at Grand Prismatic |
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| They Are a Talented Crew! |
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| I'm Gonna Miss This Group, Not Gonna Lie |
When we got back to Kelly Campus, it was time for Celebration of Learning time! This was such a treat. All of the three main programs got together to share what they had learned throughout their time here with Teton Science Schools. Expeditions shared "This I Believe and This I Will Do" poems, Expressions had an art gallery, and Sustainability had prepared a meal and their "Sustainability Plans" for when they go back home. It was really cool to go around and see what the other programs did during their summer and to see the community blossom from three different programs into one of the whole Kelly community. Definitely felt really proud of what our students overcame, created, and experienced while they were here. It definitely made me realize what I had experienced, overcame, and challenged within my own self. There is still a whole lot of growing I need to do (everyone needs that), but it made me aware of my self and what I need to do to make me - me.
Still in disbelief that my teaching and time at Teton Science Schools is coming to end (as of right now). Where has the time gone! What's next: my own Celebration of Learning...what in the heck did I even learn all year....oh man - the pressure!
More to Come - This Teton Adventure is Not Over (Yet),
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