Environmental education connects us to the world around us, teaching us about both natural and built environments.  It raises awareness of issues impacting the environment upon which we all depend, as well as actions we can take to improve and sustain it. Whether we bring nature into the classroom, take students outside to learn, or find impromptu teachable moments on a nature walk with our families, environmental education has many benefits for youth, educators, schools, and communities.  (Susan Toth, Project Learning Tree, Top Ten Benefits of Environmental Education, Retrieved January 9, 2024)

The 4-H Environmental Camp program in Montgomery County was initiated in 1997 in collaboration with 4th grade classrooms in the local school system. The overnight environmental camp format provided students environmental science/outdoor recreation programs and activities that develop life-enduring skills of critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, teamwork, self-responsibility, and character-building.  

For many of the participants, this is the  first time spending a night  away from home; a first time to see an owl up-close; a first-time to cast a fishing line; a first time to make S’mores around the campfire; and even a first time to hike in the woods---all of those “firsts” combine to make memories teaching them life-lessons they take along with them into the rest of their lives. For teachers, the experience reinforces science concepts learned in the classroom leading to a greater awareness and comprehension of the environment.  

Over a twenty-five-year period, Montgomery County Extension 4-H Youth Development program has partnered with schools to provide the environmental educational experience through overnight camps, day camps and learning in the classroom. Building on the format of the environmental education camp program, this past October 4-H partnered with Northview Elementary 5^th graders to offer its first-ever History Day Camp at North Central 4-H Camp in Carlisle.   Programs included Jemima Boone, a Chautauqua speaker and the Pioneer’s Perspective, providing a visual journey of frontier America.  Classes included Wilderness Road, the journey into early Kentucky; Frontier Living; Forestry Pharmacy, health remedies of early times; and Colonial Economics, bartering and trading to survive early Kentucky.  

 Overwhelmingly the day camp was well-received by students and classroom instructors. Environment and history go hand-in-hand.   The students experienced the environment of frontier Kentucky in a camp setting.   They gained a greater sense of the experiences that led to the settling of Kentucky.