A new program brought together all of the sixth graders from Greene County and Paton-Churdan School Districts, while learning about the outdoors.

Greene County Conservation Naturalist Jacob Fernholz said in coordination with several groups and organizations, they hosted a four-day program called School of the Wild last week at Spring Lake Park. He explained the ultimate goal of this program is to get kids to experience the outdoors, outside of the four walls of a classroom. Fernholz stated that there were four main subject areas that they focused on, including wetlands, prairies, woodlands and archaeology. He described his favorite part.

“I loved to be able to watch kids go, ‘This is so cool,’ when they do something new or didn’t think they could do it. I had the fortune of doing the fire starting section and helping kids. I had multiple kids come up and say, ‘This is so hard, I can’t do this.’ Every group of kids that came through was able to start a fire with flint and steel. Some of those students that were able to do it had zero faith that they could do it, were able to do it.”     

Fernholz points out that along with building a fire, the kids also did archery, canoeing, did an orientation course with a compass, along with fishing, plant and insect identification, among others. He shared that this program doesn’t happen without the students’ involvement and he appreciated everyone working together.

“This is our first year doing this. Talking with the School of the Wild Coordinator, this is the first county to go countywide with this type of an event in the state. I think the teachers being able to work together, the principals and the administrative staff that went ahead and said, ‘Hey, let’s just go ahead and do this.’ Their support speaks volumes as to what they feel about the outdoors and really is a pat on their back.”   

Fernholz thanked Iowa PBS, Friends of the Greene County Parks, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District, Greene County ISU Extension, Jefferson Hy-Vee and the Greene County Conservation Board for putting on School of the Wild. He added that he is already planning for next year’s program and hopes to continue to make this an annual event.