Final Evaluation Process

The closing portion of my internship deals with the final evaluation process. The purpose of these procedures is to leave a guidebook for those who may hold the position in the future, and to assess the current state of programming. The evaluation is to encompass the entire nature and camping program that I have planned and implemented over the summer of 2009.

The evaluation begins by covering topics related to environmental education. This curriculum covered topics such as local wildlife, ecosystems, gardening, and identifying animal tracks. The program outline then shifts to a summary of the outdoor education programs of the 2009 summer. Focus areas included hiking, camping, outdoor survival, as well as teambuilding. All of these activities were presented to campers during hands on programs where they were given the means to actually participate in various environmental and outdoor pursuits.

Although the program was very successful, I next broke down different areas that could use improvement and gave my own programming recommendations. The first dealt with the possibility of taking the campers on outdoor excursions to any one of the surrounding national parks. I also recommended that the camp use greater historical interpretation because of it’s location along the final stretch of the Lewis and Clark Trail. Lastly I gave sight to the fact that with the new addition of our geocache unit we are prepared for the future of outdoor recreation and should take advantage of this. All of these assets can be added within camp programming and advertising to create a much stronger program.

This evaluation also states why it is important to have a significant environmental and outdoor education curriculum at our summer camp. Similarly the program links together the connections that these programs have within the Jewish religion. The final conclusion then lies out that the goal of this program is create a love and respect for the outdoors and the world around us.

Included is a picture of the forest in Lake Sylvia State Park, and below is a link to the Camp Young Judaea West website.

www.cyjwest.org

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Joshua Sweet

Camp Young Judaea West Nature Spedialist

Fontenelle Nature Association Summer Educator

(402) 651 0610

joshua.sweet@ymail.com

Teva Service

In addition to my major in parks and recreation management, I am also pursuing a religious studies minor with an emphasis in Jewish studies. This played a big role in the reason why I applied for, and eventually accepted this internship with Camp Young Judaea West. Part of my responsibilities as the nature and camping specialist were to help to create a Jewish service that could relate our religion to Teva (Hebrew for nature) and the outdoors. At camp we have an outdoor sanctuary overlooking the Pacific Ocean known as the “Bears’ Den,” and this is where I have requested that such a service be held. After collaborating with the unit head responsible for planning our Judaic services we have decided to have a traditional service at the “Bears’ Den” while including exerts that I have picked out to be read in addition to our customary prayers. Listed below are a few of these quotations that I have chosen to use, and many of these exerpts relate to environmentalism, sustainability, and green ethics.

Upon creating the first human beings, God guided them around the Garden of Eden, saying: "Look at my creations! See how beautiful and perfect they are! For your sake I created them all. Make sure you don't ruin or devastate My world. If you do, there will be no-one else to repair it."

- Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be, and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, and I firmly believe that nature brings solace to all troubles.”

- Anne Frank

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said, 'Three things are of equal importance - earth, humans and rain'. Rabbi Levi ben Hiyyata said, '...to teach that without earth, there is no rain, and without rain, the earth cannot endure, and without either, humans cannot exist'.

- Genesis Rabbah 13:3

Master of the Universe
Grant me the ability to be alone;
May it be my custom to go outside each day
Among the reeds and the grass,
Among all growing things;
And there may I be alone to enter into prayer,
Talking to the one to whom I belong.

May I express there everything in my heart,
And may all the foliage of the field awake at my coming
To send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer.

So that my speech is made whole
Through the life and spirit of all growing things.
Which are made as one by their transcendent source.

- Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav

Attached to this post is a picture of the lean to shelter that I helped the campers to build in the forest. We made the roof out of moss to help protect us from the rain.

Listed below is a link to the COEJL website which is just one of many organizations that acts to link environmentalism and Judaism.

http://www.coejl.org/index.php

West Coast Typhoon

In the wake of our outdoor education field trips I can now reflect and evaluate each trip. All of the campers on each trip had an amazing time, and I have heard nothing but positive feedback from all the unit heads. Measured by these standards the trips were a huge success and can now be used to help attract future campers, as well as to enhance the experience of campers that attend each summer.

However the purpose of the blog is to write in a constructive manner in which I can provide others with helpful information. So I will refrain from writing about the successes of our field trips, and instead I will focus on what went wrong and how it was dealt with. This will ensure that my posts can be beneficial to future trip planning.

To begin with the younger campers encountered the largest issue due to transportation. We had only ordered two buses and since the oldest group was leaving in the early morning and the other was full of the 6th and 7th graders, the youngest group was left without any transportation. This was only discovered by our logistics staff one day beforehand and we had to act quickly.

Our original plan to take this group to Fort Clatsop was canceled, and instead we embarked to Cape Disappointment State Park. This park is only 20 minutes from our camp and made it possible to drive the kids in the rental vans that our camp keeps for emergencies. After canceling our reservation at Fort Clatsop I contacted Cape Disappointment to find out if they had a similar Junior Ranger Program. They informed me that they had canceled such programs last summer, but still had left over supplies that our staff could use to lead the program on our own. We did just that, and when I returned to camp I made Junior Ranger certificates myself to compensate for the awards that the kids would have received at Fort Clatsop.

The 7th and 8th graders also faced an issue as both groups got lost on the separate hikes that I had planned for them. I sent them with plenty of gear, maps, food, and water so they eventually found their way to the assigned areas without any severe problems. This problem could be avoided in the future if those who led the trips had visited the park with me when I had done the site visits earlier in my internship. Nevertheless the campers had a great trip and enjoyed seeing this beautiful state park.

In addition the oldest group was met with certain difficulties, but was most prepared due to the fact that I accompanied them on their overnight trip. Both hikes we embarked on were in the area that had been hard hit by a typhoon in 2007 where destructive winds hit the coast at over 120 miles per hour. This has left the trails littered with fallen timber making them very difficult to navigate. Each time we became stuck in a blockaded area, I left the campers with the other staff members while I investigated an equivalent route and never disappointed them.

To make matters more complicated the poles used to support the rain flies on each of our tents did not work properly. After explaining to Eureka Outdoor Gear that we could not wait 2-4 weeks for an inspection and replacement due to the fact that we only have a week and a half left of camp, they agreed to overnight us the necessary replacement gear. This will guarantee that the other campers will get to go on overnight adventures before the end of camp without worrying about the wind and rain.

Attached to this post is a picture of one of the areas on our hike at Lake Sylvia State Park that was hardest hit by the 2007 typhoon. Logging companies have recently begun to take advantage of harvesting the fallen timber.

Below is a link to a website that explains further the storms that hit the coast of Washington and Oregon.

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2007/alm07oct.htm