The trouble with Outdoor Ed

Two weeks ago, the San Mateo County Outdoor Education program was short cabin leaders for its annual February adventure to Jones Gulch. Typically 12 to 20 area teens go along as cabin leaders, however the present shortage occurred when only seven teens volunteered to participate. Three students from Terra Nova High School, three students from Jefferson High School, and one student from Burlingame High School showed up to help with the Outdoor Ed program. Initially, there were only four cabin leaders, but by the second day, the three students from Terra Nova found out about the crisis and went to Jones Gulch to help. Outdoor Ed was so desperate for cabin leaders this time around that the program used teachers and naturalists to act as cabin leader instead of the absent teens.

The teens that volunteer as cabin leaders are essential to the functioning of the program. For most of the teens who volunteer as cabin leaders for Outdoor Ed, it is a walk down memory lane, as they themselves attended when they were in elementary school. For other teens who are attending the program for the first time, the program presents a challenging yet rewarding experience.

Each week of Outdoor Ed requires a large number of teenagers to act as cabin leaders for the fifth and sixth graders who are attending the program. The program consists of cabin leaders, naturalists and teachers who work together to create a unique learning environment for students.

When teens go along as cabin leaders, they must miss a week of high school and must live in the cabins with the young students. Missing a week of high school can bring a lot of makeup work that teachers usually need completed quickly upon the students’ return.

Many high school teens want to be cabin leaders but are restricted by school rules. One rule in the San Mateo County High School District is that students are only allowed to attend one week-long event per year. This creates a problem for students who have attended "Sojourn to the Past,” the civil rights movement trip, and other similar leadership trips. This limitation makes it hard for students to choose which activity to attend. In other school districts, such as the Jefferson Union High School District, students are allowed to attend out-of-class activities more than once. For example, at Jefferson High School, some teens will be cabin leaders twice during a school year.

As cabin leaders, teens must participate in activities with the students and act a positive role model. The young students at Outdoor Ed view their older cabin leaders as gods and want to copy their cabin leader’s actions. It’s a challenge for a teen to look after 15 young boys or girls for five days and four nights. With only a little more than an hour of free time each day, cabin leaders are constantly with the students doing activities and leading them around the Outdoor Ed campus.

Most of the cabin leaders attended Outdoor Ed when they were in either fifth or sixth grade. Helping out the young kids reminds the cabin leaders of what they went through and how Outdoor Ed was a time when they dramatically grew as a person. Cabin leaders gain leadership skills from working at Outdoor Ed, and even get evaluated on their performance. These evaluations can then be used like resumes for college applications and jobs that require leadership skills.

The Outdoor Ed program desperately needs cabin leaders. To prevent another shortage from happening, high school student should seriously consider working for Outdoor Ed. It’s a worthwhile experience that involves community service. Teens only need to sacrifice a week of living away from home and their televisions to help some younger children learn some new and exciting things about nature and science.

Vanessa Harvey is a senior at Burlingame High School. She can be reached at Vanessa@smdailyjournal.com.