JUNE
Conservation Kids Camp was the June highlight. With a theme focused on Endangered Species, I led the Hellbender group for the week. Planning for this camp was hectic to say the least, but I got great experience in planning nature activities and programs; we made a Bat Trivia game, life cycle cards specific to the three endangered representatives, fact sheets for each group, and more! My favorite part of camp was definitely the costumes the kids made of their endangered animal!
With all these camps and programming days, I decided to create a survey testing the effectiveness of Boone County Conservation District’s camps. The results of this survey indicate that the 9-12 year olds of Boone County are smart and eager to get outside!
More than programming we have been exploring! Lillie’s bat research has taken us to a lot of cool places that aren’t easily accessible to the public, so it’s great seeing the diversity of our ecosystems across Northern Kentucky. All this exploration has been testing my naturalist skills, and I love it!
JULY
New month, next camp! Twelve 13-15 year olds came to LEAF Academy, and it was the best week! This was such a great group, and we took nature exploration to the next level. These students were quick to get their hands dirty, and their creativity flourished (especially in the Leave No Trace skits!). The theme of this camp was based on Aldo Leopold’s famous piece: A Sand County Almanac. This is a great read and, despite the old-timey language, the LEAF kids contributed to intricate discussions. It’s difficult for me to pick my favorite part of LEAF… every day was a new adventure.
Lillie and I also attended two Walk-&-Talk seminars at the NKU Research and Education Field Station where we painted some nature art and built bird feeders! These are both skills that I would be interested in practicing more.
Recently, we rolled up our sleeves and helped the Boone County Parks crew in their process of making a new trail at Middle Creek Park. It was hard work and Parks deserves a HUGE round of applause for the restoration work they are implementing in all of our Boone County Parks.
Wow! This summer has flown by! There’s only a few weeks left, and still so much to finish!
