Working As a Teacher At the Outdoor School That Saved My Life

I work as an Environmental Educator at The Mountain Park Environmental Center (MPEC) in Colorado . The park was the first forest service property in the country set aside for recreation and education. We lead a program in which we bring 5th graders and teachers from a small city in Colorado on a bus, and guide them on nature hikes through the park, to give them an immersive scientific experience. All of the material we teach is tested, goes toward their science grade, and ends up on the science portion of their standardized tests. We hike all day long, play plenty of nature games, and collect soil and water samples to test. At the end of my work day, if every student on the bus back from MPEC isn't ecstatically sharing with their friends the wonders of mycelium (dubbed "the wood wide web" by one of my students), spotting deer, singing nature songs, or asleep, I haven't done my job right.

Wood Ear Mushroom (Auricularia auricula-judae) found on one of our hikes through MPEC, with light green Usnea in the foreground.

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The Mountain Park Environmental Center sends out a newsletter every season, and this season the founder of the park asked me to write an article. I was honored that he felt my story was one that should be told. Here is the article published in our newsletter. This is how nature healed me, and this is how MPEC found me.

"As we hiked into the rocky mouth of Devil’s Canyon, one of the students in my group said, “this is the most beautiful sight in the world.” After walking into this part of the canyon dozens of times since I began my work as an Earth Studies Ranger in August, it is easy for my mind to be cluttered with the needs of the children, parents, teachers, and schedule. I often forget what it must be like to see Devil’s Canyon for the first time… Two massive, towering, mossy rock walls, pushing from the forest floor to the sky. One student has even suggested that the area is called Devil’s Canyon because the walls look like devil horns coming out from the depths of the earth.

Devil's Canyon

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I am the park’s first Ranger who participated in the Earth Studies program as a 5th grader, 11 years ago. I try to reach back into my memory to find the first time I saw Devil’s Canyon. Sadly, I cannot remember coming here when I was in 5th grade. At this point in my life, it was very difficult to be present. My father married a woman with two daughters that year. We struggled to cope with the adjustment, especially since it became apparent that my new stepmother had an alcohol and drug problem, which she took out on us kids. At the time, I closed myself off to the world. I shut down. I barely remember anything from this time in my life, other than a fear that I was causing everyone’s problems… that the world would be better without me. This feeling resurfaced throughout my life, leading to drug problems, a constant battle with mental illness, and relationship issues.

Awkward me as a 5th grader, at Outlaw Mountain in Colorado

Without remembering fully, the Earth Studies program still shaped my childhood. I had no other choice than to nourish this seed that my rangers planted for me. I took steps in my life to let this part of me grow. I attended camp the following summer, and became a camp counselor at that same camp. I worked at an organic farm. I even convinced my father to let me switch schools, to take charge of my education at a smaller private school outside of Pueblo. I began to have a relationship with nature. The San Isabel National forest became my healer.

Awkward me all grown up

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When I look into the eyes of the children I am teaching, I do my absolute best to truly see them for who they are. They may have their heads down to the ground, but they still deserve to be seen. My mentors, counselors, and park rangers saw into my soul. They saw my laughter as an invitation to enjoy and enlighten, rather than a threat to their own happiness. Without them, I believe I would have gone on a path of total self destruction. I believe that my mentors planted a seed for me.

The Earth Studies Oath, found in every student’s Earth Studies Book, states, “I will care for the Earth so the people of the future will be able to enjoy it the same as me.” Whenever I read this to my students, I cannot help but reminisce about the conversations, laughter, and songs that I shared with my mentors through the last 11 years. They cared for the Earth, so that I could walk through Devil’s Canyon today, and share those memories with this generation. Our shared oral tradition as constant students of the Earth.

Some kind of purple polypore, that I do not know the name of. Even as an educator, I never stop learning.

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As an environmental educator, it is my duty to interpret the wonders of the wild into the language of the child. I also feel that it is my duty to invite children into a world they may have forgotten existed. One full of color, connection, and soul. They may not know that their time at the Pueblo Mountain Park is an invitation into a big family of rangers, outdoor enthusiasts, naturalists, scientists, and activists throughout the world. But, if they’re anything like I was, eventually it will hit them. Their lessons and subconscious memories will come full circle, and they may find themselves back at the place where their journey through nature began, at “the most beautiful sight in the world.” This time, with new light in their eyes, and new hopes in their hearts."

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The experience I have had working at the Mountain Park Environmental Center has been one of the most beneficial and life changing risks I ever took. I wake up every day knowing that I am making an impact. I come home every day with mud on my boots and face, and I couldn't be happier. My work there, and the program itself, has inspired me to write a children's book about an inner city kid who remembers his love for science and nature while on a school field trip to the mountains.

If you're reading this, I hope you stick around to see the book published. And I hope you don't forget to go outside today and let you inner child run free for at least a little bit. It's a beautiful world out there.