Hurricane Island Camperships
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Over the years, the Watershed Coalition has helped dozens of students learn about ecology, habitat, leadership, and cooperation, care of the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. It’s a week full of adventures and lessons offered in a gorgeous setting.
To quote Troy Howard Middle School teacher Martha Conway-Cole, this is:
“A beautifully cultivated, thoughtful, engaging curriculum of place-based activities. Staff were seamless presenters, aware of their students’ developmental stages, engaging even our students with learning challenges…. staff were thoughtful and authentic. I can’t recall being somewhere quite so pitch perfect for my students. It’s been a real inspiration.”​
What do the kids do out there?
Net scallop larvae by grid sampling: sorting, identifying species, counting, averaging, measuring, tallying.
Do the “Fish Banks” game, which focuses on sustainable fish harvesting. They use data sheets, and learn about statistics, diminishing returns, Tragedy of the Commons. Climb a rock face (which helps campers learn about persistence, overcoming fear, and relying on team members.)
Plus! They try a hand at lobstering. Swim off the dock. Hike. Build a raft and ride it. (Or maybe not: as one student wrote, “My favorite memory was when we were testing our boat and it tipped over right after we started paddling out.”)
Why do we do this? One way—maybe the best way—to preserve the watershed is to help people, especially young people, appreciate it and locate themselves in it. This experience has the power to give kids a new way of seeing themselves and environment they’re inheriting. To quote Annette: “I will 100% come back. I had an amazing time, learned a lot, and I’m excited for any chance to do this again. When I go home I will take shorter showers.”
How do we do this? Through memberships and donations. You can contribute here >
