Fun overshadows learning for Marion County youth on this Camptown day
"Don’t be dumb,” Trey Clayton said, on a recent sunny afternoon at Fort Harrison State Park.
The Camptown program director used an impromptu encounter with a family of four raccoons to tell a group of Share LT middle schoolers his favorite rule for the day.
“Oh, I’m going to go and attempt to hold a baby raccoon.” That would be dumb he said, then reminded the kids that two people had been gored recently by bison at Yellowstone National Park because they had gotten close to the wild animals. Respecting nature and staying away from wild animals is a smart thing.
“I would rather fight a bison than a raccoon, if that tells you anything,” he tells the kids. All kidding aside, “I’m serious about this wildlife thing.”
The other rules Clayton stressed including reminding the students not to be rude to each other or to others in the park and not to be creepy during the day, no creepy scary things and no creeping on others.
Daniel McShane, a student, later gave an example of not being creepy. While canoeing, he said, don’t say, “Hey, is that a sea monster?”
Camptown takes youth, mostly from Marion County and at-risk communities, on outdoor adventures.
Activities range from canoeing, fishing and hiking to wilderness survival and camping. Youth face life through nature, experiencing personal growth and team building. It’s an opportunity the kids don’t typically get, Clayton said.
“As we have more and more technology exposure we forget just how to play and be outside,” he adds, and that’s why it’s important to be exposed to the outdoors as well.
Share LT, which worked with Camptown on this day, creates extra activities for Lawrence Township students who would otherwise be hanging out at home. It takes kids on field trips and offers enrichment activities.
Camptown is a favorite group to work with, said Rebecca Henry, Share LT founder and director. “They operate like we’re paying them big bucks for this,” she said, “and yet they subsidize it nicely for us so that as a community we can afford to get kids out into nature.”
Through learning, kids have fun just being kids in the outdoors. They learn patience while fishing. They stomp through Fall Creek while looking for macro invertebrates.
But it is the water battles that seem to be the most fun. Canoes are tethered so they won’t tip over. After a safety talk and donning life jackets, the students paddle out to the middle of Delaware Lake. Water blasters become weapons as they spray competing canoes and friends. A glorified water fight ensues. And, of course, laughter abounds.
Go here to learn more about SHARE LT: https://msdltf.org/impact/today-and-tomorrow/share-lt.html
Learn more about Camptown: https://camptown.org/
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Marion County youth experience the outdoors through Camptown day
