Kristin Harty Barkley
Cumberland Times-News Fri Oct 08, 2010, 07:57 AM EDT
— BITTINGER — Jordan Kight peeked out from inside the hollow tree.
“This is a maple tree,” he said, grinning, as his fifth-grade classmates passed by on a muddy trail at the Garrett County 4H Education Center.
“It’s hollowed out, so I got in here.”
Allegany County Superintendent of Schools David Cox planted his walking stick in the mud and took a look.
“That’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” said Cox, who hiked with students Thursday during the final week of this year’s Outdoor School.
“You could just make this your home,” Allegany County Board of Education member Mike Llewellyn told Kight. “Get a chair, some food.”
“I think I could probably sleep in here,” Kight said.
More than 600 Allegany County fifth-graders have attended the Allegany County Outdoor School this fall, camping out for a week at a time to learn about the environment.
The decades-old program, which was discontinued for many years because of a lack of funding, was reinstated three years ago, said Mike McGowan, supervisor of Elementary Education.
Sixth-graders from across the county also participate in an annual environmental learning experience at Rocky Gap State Park.
“They do things they can’t do in the classroom,” McGowan said. “Plus, the social interaction is really good. They’re getting hands-on experience.”
On Thursday, a fall morning with sunshine and sweatshirt temperatures, Outdoor School instructor Mallory Smith showed students a beaver skull, a beaver pelt, and imprints of beaver tracks before leading them on a hike to look for beavers. School board member Sara-Beth James also went along.
“Looking at the size of this group, there’s no way you’re going to see a beaver,” Smith said. “Because beavers are really afraid of us. … But if we can be very, very, very quiet, maybe we might see some beavers.”
The students didn’t see a beaver. But they saw some evidence of the existence of beavers.
“So what do you think this is?” Smith asked, as students gathered at the edge of a stream to look at a pile of sticks.
“A hut,” one student said.
“Yes. This is a beaver hut or a beaver lodge,” Smith said. “This is their home.”
Students, who arrive on Monday and leave on Friday, sleep in cabins with parent chaperones and spend their time hiking, canoeing and fishing, as well as learning in on-site classrooms about everything from soil to weather, orienteering to tree-types.
Inside the Nature Center, students from Westside Elementary School sat in a circle Thursday and passed around a mouse, a giant toad, and several snakes.
Earlier, during a hike with Cresaptown Elementary School children, instructor Darrell Spence — a.k.a. Mr. Canoe — picked through his backpack, reviewing essential items for a camping trip.
A flashlight, for example. Compass. Toilet paper. First-aid kit.
“If you’re lost, what do you do?” Spence asked.
“Hug a tree,” one student said.
“Hug a tree,” said Spence, who owns Allegany Expeditions and works at the Outdoor School every fall. “We say hug a tree because then you stay put. Someone’s going to come looking for you.”
Cresaptown Elementary fifth-grader Gary Alexander said he was a little homesick the first night at camp this week, but then he started enjoying staying overnight in the woods.
“We told scary stories,” said Alexander, whose favorite part of Outdoor School was the bog and nature hikes. “It’s kind of better than being in school because here you get to, like, have fun while you’re learning.”
Parent chaperone Deana Reid remembers attending Outdoor School more than 30 years ago when she was a student at Cresaptown Elementary.
“It was cold and wet then, too,” said Reid, who said she slept with a hand-warmer on her nose one night. But none of the children, including Reid’s daughter, Caroline, complained about the weather, she said.
“I think it’s a good thing for them because none of them have been in front of a television all week,” Reid said. “You know? They survived without TV or a cell phone.”
