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To Christ through the wilderness

School Students learn about God’s message on nature

By Nissa LaPoint

Environmental education is not a subject new to Catholic school teachers or their students.

It’s taught in many local school’s science classes, like at Notre Dame in Denver, said Becky Mock, a junior high science and social studies teacher.

What was needed, some thought, is an outdoor class experience that emphasizes and teaches about the environment through the lens of Catholicism.

That’s the idea behind the John Paul II Outdoors Lab, established in 2008 as an environmental education and adventure program for middle and high school students and homeschoolers under the nonprofit organization John Paul II Adventure Institute.

It has drawn participation from 18 archdiocesan schools and four home school groups in the last four years, said Sandy Harem, director of the lab and president of the adventure institute.

The program gives students wilderness experiences while helping them learn about God’s message on the environment from Scripture.

“I think with the spiritual activities that they have there, the students get a greater understanding and a greater love toward this world that God has given to us as a gift,” Mock said about the program. “It’s an experience some of them will never forget.”

Every year some 30 Notre Dame students in the seventh grade participate in the program that combines eucharistic adoration and Mass with lessons like animal survival strategies.

Schools may select from courses ranging from ecology and botany to forestry and conservation for a one- to five-day program.

This year, the Outdoor Lab will hold its courses at the High Peak Camp, a Christian camp run by The Salvation Army, in Estes Park.

Eighth-grade teacher Mary Claire O’Banion of Assumption School in Denver went with 35 students from the sixth, seventh and eighth grades for a three-day course in November, she said.

The courses discussed the four relationships Catholics are called to with God, nature, others and themselves, she said, but emphasized the relationship with nature.

From that point, the lab teachers delved into topics like water conservation.

“We do every single topic in a set format and that format is we first look at Scripture,” Harem said.

On the topic of conservation, passages about Christ’s baptism in the Jordan and other passages that reference the necessity of water for life are discussed, she said. Then the lab teachers pose questions like, “What does God ask me to do with this information?”

It made an impression on the Assumption students who reported to O’Banion that they went home and worked to cut back their family’s water usage, O’Banion said.

Equally inspirational were the hikes through Rocky Mountain National Park, which were led by some seminarians.

“It was good for them to see young men speak passionately about their faith,” O’Banion said.

The courses teach more than just recycling, Harem said.

“I think God is calling us to so much more,” she said.

Students are taught how to assess water quality and make improvements at home, she said. The purpose is to get children to think about how they can improve water quality themselves.

“Our hope and the goal is that ultimately the kids are asking this question at a deep level,” she said.

The courses are divided into an elementary program for third- through fifth-graders and another program for sixth- through 12th-graders.

The seven lab teachers will begin courses starting today through the end of May.

For more information, visit www.jp2adventures.com or call 970-685-0546.