A Gift from Outside the Box Thinking
It is rare once we are an adult, to ever return to something close to the summer camp experience. I was really lucky, somehow and turned back time one summer.
As a liscensed teacher, we are required every 5 years to renew our license. It is a tedious process of counting up points (.5 for every 30 minutes of training) to reach 180 total. Instead of counting each little meeting, event, training and trying to recall how many points we earned the summer before last, many simply take a college class to earn an automatic 180 points. The main problem with that is the price of graduate level credits! We are talking about $800 with about half being reimbursed later.
Ever since earning my grad degree, I have chosen to count my points and have smaller often free experiences.
It was about my third year into my next renewal cycle, when I thought outside the box. I needed something to stimulate my nearly 25 year career. I decided to sign up for the strangest professional development opportunity ever heard. When it was proposed to staff, there were only a few things some of us took away from the conversation. Mainly that it involved Science, water treatment and conservation, sewer plant tour, the Chesapeake Bay watershed and our local river. There may have been a mention about the trip down the river, but I was interested in the 45 points recertification points.
This PD (Professional Development) opportunity became one of the best decisions of my career and in my personal life. All my life I had a fear of the water. I decided to address it head on with myself and found the perfect life vest. I think I wore it all of the time we were close to the water (including lunch breaks) often laughing that I was modeling ideal water safety. I can't swim and I would be sure to panic even if it is waist deep. Surprisingly, everyone followed suit.
This PD experience would pair me with other educators from all disciplines, even college. I met all types of people who had various personal lives, but all were educators and had a love for learning. I learned how to get heavy canoes on and off the tall canoe hauler. It is amazing what teamwork can do and if we had a chance to show that to students, what a significant skill that would be. I learned about canoes versus kayaks and somehow childhood camp experience helped with the canoe. Though my last experience was a 10 person style canoe in Alsaka on a gentle lake and nothing like a flowing river. We never flipped the boat as adults and it made you wonder what the problem was all those years ago.
In between river floats, we performed scientific water testing and learned about local programs which monitor the river. We also talked about projects to do with our students related to water health. Such skills would be handy when we arrived at our research facility at Fox Island on the Chesapeake Bay.
One look at Fox Island on the Internet and some knew I had lost my mind. It is no more than a fishing hut that holds about 20 and sits need on stilts in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. No plumbing or electricity. We left from Reedville, VA after a nice tour of the area and took a boat to Smith Island and from there we got on a boat donated to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. We spent a lot of time on the vessel during the next few days, It seemed like a strong 90-minute ride to our destination. Several folks were sick and hung off the back of the boat, but I was able to look forward and keep a piece of crystallized ginger in my mouth at all times.
What was only a few days at Fox Island, felt like a really long time in a good way. There was no island though, it was a salt marsh that was covered by water except during low tide. You could stand on it and jump up and down and feel it move. Nothing could beat the cool evening breezes on the deck and enclosed porches. The host of the island had already done the shopping for the group and chosen the menu. Each night, a couple people were chosen to cook for 20 and there were exactly 20 plates and bowls.
For a stove, we had the oldest gas store imaginable. Luckily I great up in rural Virginia and had seen such a device. I was happy to point out the broiler in the bottom drawer when it came time to make garlic bread. In hindsight, I hope that was not my only contribution. We had an outdoor gas grill as well. The refrigerator was more like you use in an RV and ran off the solar panels that were on the roof. To get water for cooking, you had to pedal a stationary bike to pull fresh water up from the well below. Our dining table was really two sets of saw horses and two plywood sheets. Benches for chairs and handkerchiefs you adopted for while you were there to be used as napkins. When you were done, just store all the parts in the corner and you have more space. The perfect table actually.
There were no showers, except for the one they would show up on our last day. It was hooked up outside to a generator and used the bay water. Used only as necessary to remove mud. It was funny, we all seemed the same claiming we did not stink. We were still saying that on three hour ride home in a packed SUV.
The bathrooms were thronelike and known as self-composting toilets. There were two sinks for 20 people to brush teeth while looking in the mirror. Makeup and hair care seems to not exist. A young college girl would tell me I was beautiful without makeup and I felt guilty trying to hide my blemishes with foundation. There were limited photos being taking since cell phones did not work so that was a good thing.
The sleeping conditions were hot and some slept on the screened porches. I was glad to choose the bottom bunk near the window. I got some good picture but could have easily fallen out that screenless window or dropped my phone.
Several things came out of this trip. I met a teacher who follows a circuit of PD opportunities all summer and uses t as a way to vacation and see family. He starts on the East coast and then uses travel stipends or sometimes airfare to allow him to get to the West coast-seeing family along the way. His next venture was going to pay him a stipend for the week plus mileage to drive out there. He was single but wow what a way to celebrate being an educator. There are little know opportunities out there for teachers.
I revived a connection to my local river and the outdoors. I am not into sports but this gentle reintroduction helped me remember how happiness can come from being outdoors. Through the connection I made, the following year I became a camp counselor of sorts. Surprisingly, they pay you money for having fun with the kids and teaching them about the waterways.
And the new material I have for lesson and articles to write is immense. I look forward to sharing my experience with anyone who will listen.