Trekkers After School Nature Club
Photo by John Waken
"All of us were working together and all of us became leaders at different times." Sar Mu Na
Trekkers is an after school nature program for at-risk middle school youth. Campfires, group nature challenges, archery, hiking in the sunshine and in the rain, camp-outs with hikes in the dark, listening to owls, roasting apples and telling stories are just some of the experiences we offer our Trekkers each fall and spring.
Trekkers began as a 5 week pilot offered in fall 2014 and spring 2015, with grants from The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and Strowd Roses. The program continued in fall 2015, funded by a repeat grant from Strowd Roses that allowed us to serve both returning Trekkers and many new ones. In spring 2016, thanks to Learning Outside donors, the group returned for more adventures.
Our Trekkers program has continued to grow ever since thanks to funding from The Grable Foundation, the Alces Foundation and Strowd Roses. These middle school students now meet on 10 consecutive Fridays in the fall and return for 10 weeks in the winter/spring. Each fall and spring, their sessions culminate in an overnight camp-out at Triangle Land Conservancy’s Irvin Nature Preserve where Learning Outside offers all of its programs.
Our Trekkers explore different outdoor skills each week - hiking, fire-making, archery, nature-challenges, edible wild plant identification, tracking and more. Activities call upon their ability to collaborate, to communicate with one another, and to grow as a team. “All your life, you meet and have to work with people you don’t always want to work with, that may even annoy you, but you build a relationship. And all of us here were part of one body – we were all working together.” Lwel Too
A huge thank you to the many partners who make our Trekker's program possible; all of those listed above as well as The Refugee Support Center, Smith Middle School's school social worker Tina Moore for help and support at the school level, and both Duke’s Outdoor Adventures Club and Townsend, Bertram & Co, for providing tents, sleeping bags and pads for our overnight camp-outs. A special thank you to TLC’s Land Manager, Walt Tysinger for leading the group on amazing night owl walks as well providing friction fire demos for them at our camp-out spot at Woods Camp.
Trekkers is an after school nature program for at-risk middle school youth. Campfires, group nature challenges, archery, hiking in the sunshine and in the rain, camp-outs with hikes in the dark, listening to owls, roasting apples and telling stories are just some of the experiences we offer our Trekkers each fall and spring.
Trekkers began as a 5 week pilot offered in fall 2014 and spring 2015, with grants from The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation and Strowd Roses. The program continued in fall 2015, funded by a repeat grant from Strowd Roses that allowed us to serve both returning Trekkers and many new ones. In spring 2016, thanks to Learning Outside donors, the group returned for more adventures.
Our Trekkers program has continued to grow ever since thanks to funding from The Grable Foundation, the Alces Foundation and Strowd Roses. These middle school students now meet on 10 consecutive Fridays in the fall and return for 10 weeks in the winter/spring. Each fall and spring, their sessions culminate in an overnight camp-out at Triangle Land Conservancy’s Irvin Nature Preserve where Learning Outside offers all of its programs.
Our Trekkers explore different outdoor skills each week - hiking, fire-making, archery, nature-challenges, edible wild plant identification, tracking and more. Activities call upon their ability to collaborate, to communicate with one another, and to grow as a team. “All your life, you meet and have to work with people you don’t always want to work with, that may even annoy you, but you build a relationship. And all of us here were part of one body – we were all working together.” Lwel Too
A huge thank you to the many partners who make our Trekker's program possible; all of those listed above as well as The Refugee Support Center, Smith Middle School's school social worker Tina Moore for help and support at the school level, and both Duke’s Outdoor Adventures Club and Townsend, Bertram & Co, for providing tents, sleeping bags and pads for our overnight camp-outs. A special thank you to TLC’s Land Manager, Walt Tysinger for leading the group on amazing night owl walks as well providing friction fire demos for them at our camp-out spot at Woods Camp.