“Being in nature creates a feeling of connection; a feeling that you belong. A lot of kids don’t know how to fit into this crazy world. But when you’re out in nature, everything and everyone belongs.”Jill Jennings
That connection is something Jill Jennings, Wildsight Education Coordinator, sees every time she brings students outside. Students often arrive to environmental education programs unsure, overwhelmed or disengaged. But nature has a way of grounding them.
Jill starts her Wildsight Education programs by helping students connect to the land. She might ask them to use their animal senses to listen to the sounds around them like a fox, to burrow fingers in the earth like a rabbit or to smell the air like a big brown bear. They smell the pine needles or feel the wind on their faces. They reflect on how they relate to the wild around them. They learn about the amazing landscapes that surround us and support life on Earth through age-specific programs. Jill leads Wildsight’s Winter Wonder program, preschool story times at the Kimberley Public Library as well as supporting our team of 12 environmental educators working across the Columbia Basin.
“You can see they’re so awestruck,” Jill shares. “You can hear how excited they are about everything they’ve just learned,” says Jill. “By the end, they’re just wrapped up in this blanket of wonder.”
Over the past 25 years, Wildsight has offered more than 100,000 nature-based learning experiences to youth across the Columbia Basin. From pond-dipping for macro-invertebrates to backcountry camping, these experiences have helped kids build lasting connections to the environment, and to themselves.
A growing unrest
At the heart of our programs are educators like Jill, who believes nature is still one of the most powerful influences in a child’s life. While her love of place-based learning continues, Jill has seen an uneasy shift in how students interact with the environment over her 20 years as an environmental educator.
“Years ago, kids would show up excited and curious and they would be eager to climb trees, flip rocks over, and be playful and open to the learning and the environment around them,” Jill reflects. “I’ve definitely noticed a shift where now you see kids arriving a bit more unsure, a bit more uncomfortable, a bit more anxious.”
That growing disconnection only deepens Jill’s commitment to continue this work.
“I want to keep giving kids these experiences outdoors. Nature still has the same power that it always has to connect and to ground us.”
Ripple effects
Jill sees the ripple effects of environmental learning everywhere, from library story time to school field trips. Parents tell her their kids recognize birds from earlier lessons; teachers share how some students experience a special outdoor place for the first time on Wildsight field trips.
“Every time I get that feedback, that’s how I know that this work is so, so important and impactful. This is where we grow hope — that’s what our job is.”
As we celebrate 25 years of getting kids learning in and from nature through Wildsight environmental education programs, we celebrate team members like Jill that help spark children’s curiosity and wonder in the wild. With the right support, that spark can grow into a lifelong passion to protect our wild backyards.
“Kids still need this,” says Jill. “We just have to make sure that we fuel the flames of that spark of curiosity.”
Want to support this work? A generous donor has stepped up to match all donations to Wildsight Education from now until September 30. Connect kids to nature today!