Education Archive

Education

Apr 1, 2016

Jeanna Matthews
jeanna.matthews@gmail.com
315-250-0566

This is my first column for North Wind as the new Education Chair. I would like to begin by thanking Jeff Miller, the outgoing Education Chair. Jeff has made my job much simpler by being incredibly organized and handing me a wealth of advice and materials. He also organized all of the Outdoors-Indoors talks for this spring. Thank you Jeff for all you did as Education Chair and for all you’ve done to help me get started.

We are sponsoring two middle school students to attend Camp Colby this summer. We sent a letter to guidance counselors and received 8 applicants from students in Massena, Ogdensburg and Edwards-Knox. We awarded two scholarships – one to a student in Ogdensburg and one to a student at Edwards-Knox. The other 6 applicants will receive Laurentian chapter patches.

In their essay, one applicant said, “I hope I get to go because this could be a once in a life time opportunity. I have never been to summer camp.” Another student said, “I love science class. I would really enjoy learning about the wilderness. When I read the description of experiences at camp, I didn’t even know what a bog was. Mrs. Verville explained it to me. It sounds fascinating. I live within the city, so I don’t get much of a chance to enjoy the great outdoors.”

We will also be sponsoring two high school students to work on trail work projects in the summer. If you know of a student who would be interested in this scholarship or you have an idea for reaching more students with details of the process, please let me know.

The Outdoors-Indoors talks have been great so far (thanks to Jeff of course!). On Sun, Jan 17 “Avalanche Survival: A First-Hand Account”. Dan Zucker gave an absolutely amazing first hand account of surviving an 800 foot fall down Dodge’s Drop on Mt. Washington (NH). Next, Eileen Visser shared her experience with the 90 Miler canoe race.

On Sunday, April 17, Dick Mooers will talk about the trip he and Peggy took through many great national parks and monuments along a route to California, the Oregon coast, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Alaska. I hope to see many of you there!