Needless to say, the St. George Nature Trail has, well, not been in great condition for quite a while now. Although the scenery is very nice, it was never very welcoming or had a distinct trail. Well, us sixth graders and the Alternative Education boys here at St. George School decided it was time that something was done. We are going to rebuild the nature trail and make it accessible for all St. George community members. The new and improved trail is going to have benches, signs, and tools that the school can go out and use. Not only will there be a nature trail, but there will also be an outdoor learning center for the school and community.

    Adding to our knowledge of nature, our fabulous teachers arranged for us to go to Tanglewood Youth Forestry Camp for two nights and three days! The scenery was perfect since we were there during peak foliage. While there, we learned about compass skills, land plots, and types of trees and leaves. To learn about all of these we played cooperative learning games that Tanglewood setup. For example, Each One Teach One, where we would learn about something from our instructor and then teach it to our group. We also had a type of scavenger hunt with compasses.

    After a day of learning we had free time where people would play soccer, have night walks, and just hang out in our cabins. During the night walk we did multiple things. One thing was that we sat at an area and just closed our eyes and listened to our surroundings. Another thing that we did on the night walk was learn about everyday things that we never thought about. Did you know that the Band Aid glue glows when you open the packaging?Since we always open them during the day we never see the glow.Did you know that when you directly bite a wintergreen mint without licking it, the mint sparks? Neither did I.
We weren't always outside, though. One night we had a talent show. My cabin did a "Nerd Fashion Show." I did an impression of Erkel. "Did I do that?" That same night we played tricks on the boys' cabins, like putting fake body parts in their beds and banging on the sides of their cabin. Wasn't me... With our full knowledge of forestry, we are completely ready to make our outdoor learning center. Our goal is to have it completed by this summer with the benches and everything!