The life-changing experience of being an outdoor school councelor.
For several weeks throughout autumn and spring, crowds of fifth and sixth grade students are ushered onto buses and sent to Oregon camps for “Outdoor School,” a week of time they will spend learning outside of the typical classroom environment. You may recall being one of those students, or perhaps your opportunity was missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you did get to go, you might remember high school counselors who used made-up nature names, slept in the same cabin with you and the other campers, and led outdoor activities that broke the monotony of school as you knew it.
Now that I’m a high school senior, I have volunteered to be one of these counselors four times throughout four seasons. These weeks at camp have been some of the best of my life — and the most eventful. My most recent experience had me feeling immense pride and confidence that I’ve rarely felt before — surviving my first-ever wasp sting, laying awake in a sleeping bag and pondering why I keep doing this to myself, and singing a song by campfire light alongside an 11-year-old child I will never see again. Northwest Outdoor Science School (NOSS) has changed my life and ignited my undying love for the outdoors.
Back when I was an elementary schooler, my time spent with classmates at Camp Westwind was not so grand. I was the child that no counselor wanted to be stuck with, and an adult staff member had to stay with me during activities because I would cry so often. I probably set the record for the student who said, “I want to go home,” the most during my one week of outdoor school. But did I have a memorable time? Absolutely. At the very end, I decided that in four year’s time, once I reached high school, I would go back as a counselor — under the nature alias Twig.
I did go back, but five years later, and instead used the nature name Albatross. Camp Westwind is no longer a host for NOSS, so I couldn’t go back to the camp I remembered. Instead, I’ve volunteered at Camps Magruder and Arrah Wanna.
In NOSS, there are a total of five sites that volunteers rank in order of preference on the sign-up form. Three of them are forest sites, which are gorgeous camps located in the forests around Portland — Camps Arrah Wanna, Trickle Creek, and Cedar Ridge. The other two are beach sites, Camps Magruder and Meriwether — located near Rockaway Beach and Cape Lookout, respectively. Magruder is my favorite of the two that I have attended. Not only is it beautiful, with the famous Haystack Rock visible directly north, but the experiences I’ve had with students, other counselors, and staff have made it feel very, very special. The staff in particular have made my time there worthwhile.
Being responsible for a cabin of six-to-10 tweens can be quite exhausting and overwhelming, but through all of my volunteer weeks, the staff have expressed their dedication to supporting the counselors. During my most recent experience, there was one instance where I had backed myself into a corner while attempting to compromise with my rather argumentative kids. I had a painful headache at the time and felt too overwhelmed to handle it all myself. Noticing my stress, one of the staff members, Noodle, told me to spill everything to him. They were able to solve each of my problems in the short span of time it took for me and my cabin kids to walk from one place to another. Never, during my time counseling at outdoor school, have I felt all alone. There’s always a staff member or fellow counselor I could ask for aid.
Then, of course, there are the kids themselves. Think back to when you were 11 years old. Didn’t high schoolers seem so … big? So grown up? When I was a kid sent to camp with my class, I definitely remember my counselor, Chai, who to me, was the “coolest” person in the room. That’s what some kids think at first sight – they believe we’re magical. Does this mean that they listen to everything we tell them to do? Not at all! I didn’t even know it was possible for someone to take 5 minutes to tie one shoe until trying to rush the kids along during my first week of volunteering. I’ve also been shocked at the sheer amount of time 11-year-olds can spend in front of the mirror perfecting their makeup. One girl in my cabin carried around a massive handheld mirror to field studies and would take it out to fix her hair constantly.
With each of their little quirks, there is something wonderful about the individuality of each child. I have been surprised about how attached a tween can become to someone they’ve only known for a few days. They are only at camp for three nights, and in that brief amount of time I meet the kids, get to know each of their unique personalities, watch them grow from their initial apprehension to becoming real, enthusiastic nature explorers, then wave goodbye as a school bus takes them home.
“If you stop waving, you stop loving,” the staff reminds us. Although my hands have moved on from waving to the mundane act of writing, there’s a piece of my heart that has never stopped waving at those kids.
The only requirements for signing up as a counselor is being age 15 or older and being willing to participate — no previous experience needed! If you’re interested in volunteering or finding more information, go to nwresd.org, hover over the “services” tab, and select “Outdoor Science School.” It’s too late to sign up for the fall season, but the spring season begins next March. Set a reminder to ensure you sign up for a life-changing week!
Article by Rainier Cem
The Axe 