In this last half year, Imago has offered more great nature experiences for youth than ever before. Through school partnerships, group programs, summer camps, and afterschool clubs, Imago has served youth from all over the city and worked closely with our partners to create regular, fun, educational and exciting opportunities for youth to explore nature that is close to their homes and schools.
Forts and More Forts
As of writing we are still in our summer camp season (this week is actually our intermission week, when we take a rest and get ready for the next month of summer camps). We’ve already led over 250 hours of summer camp for youth of all ages. Camps have ranged from our a half-day camp for kids 4-6 years old, to our adventure camps for pre-teens and teens. So far this summer campers have taken apart owl pellets, used tools to build wooden toys, played hours of camouflage tag, gone spelunking, caught tadpoles, and built forts… many, many forts.
New this year have been camps with partner organizations as a way to serve youth that don’t have regular nature activities. So far we’ve presented a week of camp to our friends from the Academy of World Languages and later this summer we’ll be leading a nature camp for youth from Community Matters.
Finally, in the true community spirit of Imago’s mission, Imago has already given over $7,000 in scholarships to families in need, to allow their children to participate in our summer nature camps.
Digging It
The vast majority of our Branching Out experiences are with our school partners and in particular our signature partner, Pleasant Ridge Montessori (PRM). Each K-3rd student at PRM went outside once a week with Imago this school year and each of their outdoor forays happened right at the school. Our students planted seeds in their garden, took care of their garden, found grasshoppers, studied birds, made salsa, and so much more. Nothing signifies these programs more than worm studies. Not only do our students learn about the mighty worm and all of it’s soil building and decomposing powers, worms are often the first critter that a young person can reliably find and the first one that takes them from “EEEEK” to “WOW”. Imago does a lot to help young people experience the beauty and wonder of nature and worms (and other cool critters) are our nature ambassadors.
In the last 6 months alone over 400 students at PRM have spent collectively 2,600 outdoors with us. Imago is actively working to add a new school partner and we hope to be able to announce good news very soon!
It’s a Bird….
An afterschool club is a blend of summer camp and school partnership. The club is regular, weekly and takes place at the schooll (like our school partnerships) but is focused more on open-ended exploration and creative activities (like a camp). Imago has been fortunate to work with three GREAT partners for our afterschool programs. Our partners provide the space, and help us recruit and organize club participants, and then Imago takes these young Outdoor Explorers outside.
One of the exciting opportunities when partnering with an urban school is the chance to create nature areas at the school site that the students, teachers and community members can enjoy year round. Part of a partnership with Imago is building these nature learning stations (often with students) that become the natural foundation for our outdoor explorations.
This spring, the Outdoor Explorers club at the Academy of World Languages created the first of what we hope are many Nature Learning Stations. The students built a bird feeding station on the school grounds that serves as a place for our club (as well as other students) to learn about and study local birds.
Imago has already provided 400 hours of afterschool experiences this year to three partner schools and agencies.
Why does this matter?
The time that youth spend in nature has been decreasing for the past few generations. Less than half of young teens play outside (48%) as compared to 87% just two generations ago. Our youth are spending the equivalent of a full-time job in front of a screen. These disturbing trends deprive young people of the benefits that time in nature provide. Nature is an “under-recognized healer” and has been shown to provide a myriad of physical, mental and emotional health benefits. The health benefits can range from decreased depression and obesity to an increase in attention and creativity.
Moreover, time in nature is a critical factor (and maybe the most critical factor) in raising environmental citizens. Time spent camping, building forts, flipping over rocks all lead to building a “relationship” with nature – and that relationship is one of the reasons most cited when people are asked why they choose to make environmentally conscious decisions.
This decreased time in nature is not only hurting our youth, it also ultimately hurts our environment as well. Regular experiences in nearby nature (like Imago’s Branching Out programs) are a key part of reversing these trends. These programs are even more important for youth that live in urban areas, as nature in the city is harder to access and can often seems scary (especially if it’s not something you are accustomed to).
We are incredibly grateful to all of the support that we’ve received for our Branching Out programs and we invite you to join us. Consider becoming a volunteer or making a donation. Your support literally brings more nature into the lives of young people in urban areas.
