Local Students Take to the Woods and Waters Thanks to the Maine Outdoor Learning Initiative

According to Eli Hanschka, one of the trip leaders, the hands-on programming had a profound impact on the students who attended. “On the coastal ecology trip, we saw each participant engage wholeheartedly and passionately with the ecosystems we traveled through,” said Hanschka. “Students documented and shared naturalist observations, sought answers to questions of geology, oceanography, and species interaction, and gratefully ate food directly from the sea, all increasing their intimate connection to these environments. One participant, Chelsie, would often wake up early and we’d find her sitting in a meadow or exploring the intertidal zone, finding and describing all the species of plants and animals around her. Our group also developed a culture of picking up any trash we could find, no matter how difficult. They turned around their kayaks to grab a bottle that had floated by or used a boat hook they found to fish out lobster buoys wedged deep in the cracks of rocks. These inspired attitudes of curiosity and stewardship for the natural world will carry far beyond the shorelines we traveled and deep into the places and people that each participant will interact with through their lives.”