Transcription of Zachary Theberge for the show Out of the Box, #86
Dr. Belisle: The Dr. Lisa Radio Hour is all about health, the environment, education, kids, so it makes a lot of sense that we would have somebody else who feels pretty much the same way we do. On our show with us today we’re talking with Zachary Theberge of the University Maine’s 4H Camp and Environmental Learning Center at Bryant Pond. Thanks for coming in and having a conversation with us.
Zachary: No problem. Thanks for having me.
Dr. Belisle: How did you get involved in environmental education? Why did this become a passion for you?
Zachary: Being born and raised in Maine I’ve been surrounded by the Maine coast, the forests, and everything around. Really what brought me into being into the outdoors was the Chewonki Foundation. It’s a foundation in Wiscasset, Maine. Being a camper there and going on and doing their semester program just brought me into the realm of the environment. Then, I went to the University of Vermont, and then I studied environmental science and forestry. That was like really good reinforcement, and then I realized that I’m learning all this new material for the first time. How did I get into it? I started to think back on how I got into what I got into. I remembered being inspired when I was at the Chewonki Foundation. I wanted to pass that on to the younger generation because it’s always good to build upon the youth, especially now. I was looking for positions that would help me educate youths. Bryant Pond 4H camp part of the UMaine extension, I applied and got the position and it was really wonderful.
Dr. Belisle: What types of things did you do when you were there?
Zachary: Everything. We do a lot of stuff with the kids. In the spring and in the fall it’s a school program. It’s more based around school programs. We bring different classes ranging from second grade all the way up to high school, from all around Oxford County. The school groups, they come to us for several days, even as long as a week, and they stay overnight. They stay in our bunk house which is heated by a wood stove. They eat family style in our dining hall. We as field teachers teach them about ecology, a sense of place, and we also do a lot of team building to establish their class as a unit for that school year to go on and to be a strong school year, I guess. In the summertime it’s a summer camp. They do a bunch of week-long programs from anywhere from primitive skills where they learn how to start fires from flint and a bowstring, or they build shelters, or there’s a pioneer camp where they recreate the Western movement out to Oregon. Anyway, they do such a variety of things. I think it’s really cool that they encompass all of it into that one camping center at Bryant Pond.
Dr. Belisle: What are some of the major themes of this environmental education that you’re doing with the kids?
Zachary: A lot of what we do is natural science, so like an intro to the natural sciences. The ecology, but a lot of times we can’t introduce really in depth levels of science to these kids just because they don’t retain it. Really what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to inspire the kids and to get them outdoors. What I’ve always used as my motive is establishing a sense of place for the kids. These kids, they’ll go the camp and we try to have them feel about as home as they can get at the camp and really establish the relationship between the kids and the outdoors. By establishing that relationship with the kids and the outdoors you can oftentimes ignite a spark or use that spark and ignite a passion for them for the outdoors.
That’s what happened to me. That’s what I’d like to carry on and pass onto them is establishing that sense of place in the outdoors because a lot of times they think of it as a second home and they treat it like a home. How do you treat a home? You take care of it. You invite other people to your home. That’s where you live. It’s where you are pretty much all the time. As Bryant Pond’s part of the home the children, the kids, they tend to treat the outdoors as their home.
Dr. Belisle: For parents who want to reconnect their kids to the outdoors, what suggestions do you have?
Zachary: Get them out there. I know it sounds simple, but really just let them explore. A lot of times parents will let the kids go outside, but they have such a tight figurative leash on their kids and they don’t let them run around and get dirty because then they’ll have to do the laundry. For whatever reason, the don’t let their kids just explore. I think that’s such an important part about being a kid and learning is letting your kid roam and explore, get dirty, turn up rocks, climb a tree. I think those are really good experiential ways to have your kid grow.
My advice for parents trying to get their kids into the outdoors is just encourage them, take them to new places. Maine is a beautiful area. We have so many parks and so many natural areas that it’s hard to not to get to one. By bringing them out to the outdoors, getting them away from what we call the world of rectangles, their computer screen is a rectangle. You have your GameBoy as a rectangle. We try to get away from the world of rectangles and into the outdoors. Usually, that is the spark that ignites it, the passion for them.
Dr. Belisle: How can people learn more about the camp and the school that you worked at?
Zachary: Bryant Pond is a part of the U Maine extension program, and through that it’s part of the 4H. 4H stands for head, heart, hands, and health. The cooperative extension aims to bring the information that is gathered and studied at the University of Maine and try to bring it out to the public. The 4H part is more of the kids outreach on how to get them involved. It’s been around for a long time. My suggestion to get involved with UMaine Bryant Pond, is first of all, they have a wonderful website. You can go. My ultimate suggestion is to go there, is to check it out because websites and all that, they’re usually great. The website has a lot of information on it, but you don’t get quite as much information as if you just went and you go and you see where your child would be and where he’d be playing, and all of the wonderful things that they have there. They’re so accommodating. They would be more than happy to have you take a tour of the campus and show you around.
Dr.Belisle: I appreciate your coming in and spending time talking with me about your experience being part of the University of Maine’s 4H camp and environmental learning center at Bryant Pond. It’s been a pleasure talking with you today, Zach.
Zachary: Thanks, Lisa.