Starting next month, a group of educators is teaching a series of outdoor skills classes right in local youths’ own backyard.
The classes in the Outdoor Adventure Series are open to children in Grades 6 to 12.
The series is a joint effort among the staffs of the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District, Brown County Purdue Extension and Brown County Parks and Recreation.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Activities include:
Wednesday, Oct. 7: Paddling skills and water quality lesson at Deer Run Park in Nashville
Wednesday, Dec. 30: Tree ID and survival skills at Trevlac Bluffs Nature Preserve in Trevlac
Tuesday, March 17: Mountain biking skills and impacts of outdoor recreation at Brown County State Park
Those dates correspond with the fall, winter and spring breaks for Brown County Schools students.
All programs begin at 1 p.m. and last two to three hours. Children may participate in any or all sessions.
Each program costs $10 per child. Any needed equipment is provided.
Alison Shoaf, director of the Brown County Soil and Water Conservation District, said there are many reasons why her office wanted to team up with parks and rec and Purdue Extension to offer these programs to local children.
The BCSWCD leads Fourth Grade Field Day at Brown County State Park each year where all county fourth-graders gather to learn about wildlife, and Shoaf always surprised to learn how many of those students have never been to their own state park, she said.
“We feel like our access to these public spaces is just so unique and we just have so many opportunities,” she said. “… Just getting these kids exposed to their natural resources that are outside their back door was a big push for it.”
They’d planned to offer the Outdoor Adventure Series in the spring, but COVID-19 changed all that. Now, it’s planned for school breaks so that kids will still have something fun to look forward to.
“We thought people might not be interested in taking vacations right now, but they’re still looking for something to do and something to get them outside. It’s just something for these kids to do during a kind of depressing time, to be quite honest,” she said.
In addition to being fun, the programs are also about empowering local kids with outdoor skills, Shoaf said.
“It’s more than just, ‘Oh, I can go to the state park and hike around — though we are going to do that — but we’re also going to be talking about survival skills … go kayaking, get on the mountain bikes, because that’s just huge, and I don’t think that every youth has that opportunity because they don’t have the equipment.”
Brown County Parks and Recreation and Brown County State Park have boats and bikes for participants to use, she said.
Registration ends one week prior to the event date and space is limited. Parents will get more information about each event once they register.
Call 812-988-2211 or email [email protected] for more information or to register.
