“For a new generation, nature is more abstraction than reality." (Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder"

This Fall, Boone County Extension partnered with Boone County schools to provide an unforgettable, hands-on experience to 1,102 Boone County students, teachers, and chaperones.  These individuals were able to learn about their environment through guided, exploratory programs such as night hikes, pond ecosystems, KY wildlife, live animal encounters and so much more.  Students and chaperones learned about healthy ecosystem, adaptations, and how their behaviors impact them.  Programs follow Next Generation Science Standards to enhance classroom learning and provide teachers and students with needed educational content. Many students commented on the ability to explore their surroundings without such strict boundaries.

Environmental Camp addressed more than environmental issues.  Incorporated into the curriculum is team building exercises that created unity among the students that last throughout the school year. One teacher commented "I love learning with the kids and watching them take on challenges, experience activities they wouldn't normally do with their classmates.  The class always seems closer when we get home" and another said "It is such a good experience.   It helps them socially, educationally, environmentally, and with being a team player."  Environmental Camp also teaches basic life skills, such as how to be responsible for their own belongings, clean up after themselves and classmates, communicating with others, and just experiencing how to be away from home for the first time.   

Students receive an experience they will never forget in addition to the retention of environmental topics needed to state testing and life.  Many students were able to explore their natural environment in ways they have never had the opportunity to do before.  One student was incredibly excited to be able to fish for the first time and another student loved be able to see and touch the fur of native mammals in Kentucky.  Students often share experiences they had with younger students at school, which gets them excited to come as well.

Overall the program helps battle "Nature-Deficit Disorder" for our youth by allowing them to engage in nature and learn from it.