12
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
OUTDOOR: Program
was supported by
Oregon voters
Continued from page 1
list of financial institutions
dedicated to helping Outdoor
School happen in Oregon was
the Gray Family Foundation.
For years, Sisters School
District managed to provide
an Outdoor School program
on its own, with significant
effort on the part of staff.
And now, Outdoor School
for all fifth- or sixth-graders
in Oregon is a reality. Old
Camp Tamarack, a horse
camp from the 1930s located
near Suttle Lake, was pur-
chased several years ago by
Charlie Anderson of Bend,
another person who shares
Betty Gray’s enthusiasm for
children going outside to
study the nature of the nature
around them.
He set about remodel-
ing the buildings at Camp
Tamarack to accommodate
middle-school students, their
teachers and high school
counselors who would come
with them.
When asked about the cur-
rent state budget, Anderson
was so happy he almost
shouted: “It’s been a pro-
cess with a number of people
throughout the state working
to secure state funding for
EVERY fifth- or sixth-grade
student in Oregon to attend
Outdoor School, and how
cool that starting this year
there are funds in place to
start doing just that ... send-
ing EVERY fifth- or sixth-
grade student to Outdoor
School!”
OSU hired science
teacher Kris Elliott, to be the
administrator.
The new program will
provide at least three con-
secutive days of outdoor edu-
cation to Oregon’s fifth- or
sixth-graders as part of their
school experience, and it may
run as long as six days with
overnight stays. For now, the
Camp Tamarack program
runs three days.
“Our task now is to sup-
port, to the maximum extent
possible, all school dis-
tricts and Education Service
Districts that would like to
provide Outdoor School pro-
grams for the 2017-18 school
year,” Elliott said.
“School districts and
ESDs are free to design their
own outdoor curriculum,”
Elliott said, “as long as the
instruction meets the educa-
tional goals set forth in the
2015 legislation.
“We know some districts
may not have a lot of expe-
rience in developing outdoor
education. During the first
year, we’ll try to connect
these districts with others that
have more-established pro-
grams. The Outdoor School
team will continue to deliver
more resources as we fully
implement the program.”
Last week, Warm Springs
fifth-graders were at Camp
Tamarack from Monday to
Wednesday. The students’
day began in the morning
with breakfast and the usual
camp pep talks that get them
prepared for their foray into
the forest around the camp,
with a positive attitude for
camping and learning.
One tiny object has
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
Betty and John Gray, champions of Outdoor School.
helped to bring this all about:
the coveted “Purple Bean
Award.” A pin with three tiny
purple beads arranged in a
triangle is awarded to the stu-
dent who demonstrates good
camping habits and fosters a
strong attempt to make things
work better at camp.
Another distinctive asset
to the present Outdoor School
programs are the journals
used by students and instruc-
tors. The student’s journal
has several pages for notes,
instructions for behavior at
camp, and on the very first
page a drawing of a raptor
See OUTDOOR on page 19
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