Students fishing at Rainy Lake Sept. 12. Along with learning outdoor skills and fishing, they picked up micro trash in the campground and cleaned the fire pits in the camp sites.
Aspen Conley, Rose Mercer, Kyla Conley and Emily Maughan at the Fire Lab in Missoula. They were making a "newspaper tree" where they tested how it ignited.
A group that hiked to the top of Holland Falls. The group also assisted the Swan Lake Ranger District removing noxious weeds.
Cora Stone and Alysa Russell participating in the Teen Art Room making prints as part of the group on the Missoula Art Walk.
SEELEY LAKE – After setting up camp, students dotted the shores of Rainy Lake in their quest to catch lunch. This was just one of the four opportunities offered for Seeley-Swan High School Discovery Day Sept. 12. Developed by last year's Ecology class, students had the opportunity to have some fun while connecting with their fellow students, learn something about their natural world and give back to the community through a service project.
For the first time since Discovery Day started in 2012, students planned the day. In the past, SSHS Science teacher Tonya Smith and SSHS English teacher Lori Messenger planned the day.
"It is so fun to watch how it has evolved over the years," said Messenger. "It has been so many different things. The main intent is the place based learning and getting out into the community, in the natural world, outside of the school walls."
"We've never tried this before. We just designed the day with what we thought the students would want [based on surveys]," said Smith. "The Ecology Class felt like having student input on the day would make it even better. It was a really good opportunity for them to create something from scratch."
Smith's ecology class of sophomores and juniors put out an online survey for the students. Then they took that input, contacted various individuals and organizations to make the day a successful learning experience.
This year was the first time two groups went to Missoula for the day. One group went to the Missoula Fire Lab and Smokejumper Center and the other did an Art Walk in Missoula from the University of Montana Art Department and Planetarium to the Missoula Art Museum.
The other two groups were in an outdoor setting. One group went to Holland Lake to learn about lake ecology, hiking and water recreation, while the other group went to Rainy Lake to learn about outdoor living and fishing. Smith said the students chose their group and everyone was able to do their first choice.
"They wanted to gain some knowledge outside of the classroom, have fun and try and give back," said Smith.
Montana Conservation Corps youth program leader Nick Ehlers and MCC Crew Boss Ian Harris led the team building activity for the Rainy Lake group. After some instruction about how to set up a proper camp including tent, kitchen and how to properly hang food to keep it away from the bears, the students were intentionally separated into groups with other students they don't normally hang out with and told to set up their camp.
Ehlers said this is MCC's goal – getting youth into the outdoors via fishing, setting up camp or outdoor living – facilitates the community building piece.
"We love to grab a group from a school and head out and act as if we all know the same amount [about backpacking and outdoor living], which isn't very much, and let's tackle some things together and feel more comfortable in the outdoors," said Ehlers.
Harris added that through hands-on learning, the students build skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. One of the big take aways from this activity was the specifications that food should be hung 200 feet from the main camp.
"A lot of them have been backpacking in this group but not everyone," said Messenger. "There were some good wrestling matches with their tent since there were no directions."
Senior Jace Layman has spent a lot of time in the backcountry with his family that owns and operates the Rich's Montana Guest Ranch and Outdoor Adventures. Layman said he has always just set up a tarp and slept under it with his pad and sleeping bag or been in an outfitter tent. This was the first time he had set up a backpacking tent, which was more challenging than he thought it would be since there were no directions.
Layman's group set up their camp first and then struggled to find a place 200 feet from camp to hang their food. Layman smiled and said next time he would find a place to hang his food and then set up camp.
The students at Rainy Lake agreed that learning outside of the classroom was a lot of fun. Many commented that this year was a lot more fun because they got to do what they really enjoyed doing. They appreciated the work that the Ecology class put in to organize something they were excited about.
Messenger and Smith agree that encouraging student leadership through the development of Discovery Day is something that will continue.
"They can lead through their own learning," said Messenger. "Hopefully, through a structured day like this that they get to plan, think, figure out, that sets them up to then move forward and be a little more proactive in what they are interested in learning in and how they might set that up for themselves."
Reader Comments(0)