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Wednesday, June 24,1992
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Summer camp teaches kids conservation, survival skills
By Becky Lucas Kansan staff writer
School doesn't always have to be a room with a chalkboard and few windows.
Instead, school can be a field and a pond with each insect or blade of grass acting as an instructor. Thoreau would have approved.
so that it's here when they get older." Hurst said. "Today we talked about hiking on trails and set up a trail with trail markers all over the place."
In addition to learning about conservation, the children spend time on nature walks identifying flowers and plants. They also play games that include the use of survival skills. This week, students built a solar still that allowed them to purify water using only leaves, a cup and the sun.
At the Outdoor Education Camp, part of the summer's offerings from the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department, children ages five to 12 can spend a week learning about nature and conservation.
Students begin their hike at 9 a.m. and stay active until 3 p.m., when parents pick up the students, Hurst said.
Each Monday new students, grouped by age, set out to Mary's Lake, 31st Street east of Haskell Avenue, and spend the next four days fishing, hiking, canoeing, and catching frogs, bugs and turtles, said Jody Hurst, day camp counselor.
The summer camp offers parents the chance to get kids out of the traditional day care mode and into a more natural environment, Hurst said.
"The whole purpose of day camp is to teach them the purpose of the earth
"The younger kids get real tired but the older kids are ready to go," she said.
Most of the children come from Lawrence, but some come from surrounding cities including Baldwin City and Kansas City. Hurst said.
"For a lot of kids, the only nature they see is their manicured backyard," she said. "So this is something new and exciting."
The camp sees many repeat faces each year, but for 12-year-old Karrig-
Karrigan had been attending the camps for the past six years and said he would miss the camps, especially the night the older campers camped out
an Bork, last year was his last summer at day camp.
"The camp for 11 or 12-year-olds is in August, but I turn 13 in July," Karrigan said. "It's a bummer."
"I liked fishing and we did that one day of every year," Karrigan said. "It was cool."
And while Karrigan can't go to camp this summer, his 8-year-old brother Ian said he was really enjoying camp this week.
The camp has an added bonus, he said.
The people there are nice. It's really fun that you get to be outside all day long." Ian said, "It's way better than school."
"I really like it because they let you catch things and you learn a lot about nature," Ian said. "We played games and took nature hikes and went on a trail to find the arrows."
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