“An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only great curiosity but great fulfillment.”
Geoff Styles has witnessed first-hand the truth of this quote by well-known naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough through children involved in Shuswap Wild Wonders summer camps.
Styles is a Salmon Arm teacher and one of the directors of The Shuswap Outdoor Learning Foundation which, among other things, runs the Shuswap Wild Wonders outdoor learning camps. He’s also an instructor with the camps, which he began five summers ago with fellow Salmon Arm teacher Ceren Caner.
“Our model basically is connecting children in a deep way to the natural space around then,” explained Styles. “We’re a lot of trained professionals and experienced outdoor educators that help provide instruction in the camp.”
What began as one camp is now seven, running July and August for different age groups ranging from a kindergarten/Grade 1 camp to a camp for kids in Grades six to 10.
“I think one of our main goals though is to put these kids in place, teach them about all the things that live here and all the things that make the Shuswap special and different…,” said Styles.
Styles said this is the second year for the Shuswap Wild Wonders sponsorship program, where businesses can sponsor a child to go to camp.
Asked if there’s a learning curve for young campers not used to the outdoors, Styles noted how during the first camp, while on a lookout over the Mara/Grindrod valley, the kids were gathered in a circle and asked to name their favourite chocolate bar and cereal, which they had no problem doing. Then they were asked to identify any living thing they could see around them – plant, insect, bird, no matter – and they could not.
“It was interesting, with this crew. These are families that already spend a lot of time in nature… and when nobody had any answers to that question, the parent and the kids’ eyes both went as wide as saucers,” said Styles. “And you know, our point in that exercise wasn’t to show what everybody does not know. It’s not the be all, end all of knowing a space, but if you don’t know you’re standing under a Ponderosa pine tree, and the further north you go in the Shuswap, you will not find a single Ponderosa pine tree, how can you connect to those places and how can you compare between places.”
Styles said that group quickly came to make connections to what grows where, what animals made which tracks and so on.
“We said to them last year, they’re probably in the top 10 per cent of all inhabitants of Salmon Arm, not just children, who can identify 25 to 35 different species of plant, they can tell you a few uses of each plant. They can identify any animal tracks they come across,” said Styles. “They’ve been to all kind of four corners of the Shuswap so they know it inside and out and they’ve really experienced lots of different types of forest here. It’s quite a neat growth and a neat learning curve.”
A Shuswap Wild Wonders dance fundraiser, silent auction and gear swap is being held on June 18 at the SASCU Recreation Centre, featuring the Scattered Atoms Blues Band. For more information about the event and the camps, visit http://shuswapwildwonders.wix.com/camps.