A Week of Adventures!
It’s finally happening: the Back to School ads. While Target and Walmart are ready for you to branch back into fall again, Elevate Youth (and the 90 degree weather) still have a firm grasp on summer. This week, EY ran a full week of Adventure Camp for the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester with no mention of school.
Our Adventure Camp week included four back-to-back field trips for new and returning Youthers at BGCD. On Monday, staff members Hailey and Waddy met the kids at Houghton’s Pond – a longtime favorite location of Elevate Youth due to the shady trails, sandy beaches, and the adventurous playground. After a short group hike, kids were given the option of how they wanted to spend their hot afternoon outdoors – wading in the water or playing games in the shade.
The hot weather stuck around for Adventure Camp day two – an exciting visit to Outward Bound Thompson Island! A swift ferry ride through the Boston Harbor brought Youthers out to one of the 35 islands, and after a quick bathroom break, the fun immediately began. Our Youthers absolutely loved exploring the tidal area on the shores of the creek and marsh – they waded in the water up to their knees, skipped rocks, and found crabs ranging in size from a penny to a basketball, and hidden under a rock was the exosekloton of an adult horseshoe crab! After our exploration of the tidal area, we set out to dodge the heat by moving to the family learning zone of Thompson Island. Here, surrounded by trees, we sat on stumps and pulled out our lunches of sandwiches and fruit. The strawberries were a huge hit! As we ate our lunches, we also rehydrated with plenty of water and talked amongst each other which gradually let you playing a few games before our nature walk, where we explored the old weather station. On the ferry ride home, we were in for a nice cooling surprise as a small rain storm came through! It was perfectly timed for the ferry ride!
Day three of adventure camp had us at Brookwood farm. This is a public farm owned by DCR where anyone is welcome to come walk the trails. We were greeted by two of the Board of Directors who gave us a wonderful tour around the property. We saw maple trees, a sugar house, milkweed, a CSA stand and the greenhouse. Even after all this, arguably the best was yet to come. We all took a hand at re-bagging rocks that the farmers used to weigh things down as needed. Elevate Youthers worked hard and fast as a well-orchestrated team. Once we finished, we had a tour of the garden followed by an experience in the herb garden, where our Elevate Youthers got to use there sense of sight, taste, and smell to experience the different herbs. We explored different types of mint, lemon verbena, basil, chives, rosmery and lavender. After smelling and tasteing all the herbs, we were all ready for lunch before ending our trip for the day.
During our final day of adventure camp for the week, clouds provided shade for a nice relaxing kayak trip on the Charles River. Our group consisted of both experienced and new kayakers. Along the route, Elevate Youthers saw a lot of the Charles River wildlife and also enjoyed the drop in temperature. Juvenile Mute Swans followed their parents as they splased in the water. Blue Herons and their smaller cousins, the Green Herons, flew along our path as at they searched for a spot to hunt. Towards the end of the trip there were even turtles sun bathing on a log. Thanks to Paddle Boston for kayaking and concluding a fun and experienced filled week!
The BGCD were amazing Elevate Youthers throughout the week. They parctipated in both new and familiar experiences. A big thank you goes out to Brookwood Farms and Paddle Boston for helping make this week happen. And as always, thanks to our many generous sponsors and individuals who support as volunteers or monetarily. Thank you!
-Written by Hailey & Waddy
