Empowering Education: Navigating the River of Learning
A Journey in Shaping Young Minds
Written by David Kappelhoff, Education Coordinator, Mississippi Park Connection
In partnership with the National Park Service, our outdoor and online youth education programs provide a fresh, hands-on approach to the ways learning can be integrated with the outdoors, empowering students to become avid learners, and enabling them to begin building a lifelong relationship with the river. These programs wouldn’t be possible with our incredible Education volunteers. Education volunteers are present at a variety of our field trip experiences. Shifts last up to 5.5 hours can vary from navigating and mapping, using binoculars to identify birds, assist with flour milling, many more!
Students attending Big River Journey Field Trip
Students at Saint Anthony Falls attending Working River Field Trip
In a word, 'transition' would be most apt to describe what has transpired over the past few years in how our place-based education programs and staff have evolved through a pandemic while continuing our leadership role in outdoor education. Despite this challenge, part of the park education team’s goals in the last few years were to expand the formal education offerings to create programming in all seasons while still maintaining an outreach commitment to Title I schools within the Twin Cities metropolitan area. To make this a reality, our team partnered with a variety of groups, including Wilderness Inquiry, Mill City Museum, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. That said, there is no more important group that we partner with than our hardworking volunteers who show up for our programs and put their unique skills of compassion and knowledge to use along with a strong desire to serve kids.
Students attending Take me to the River Field Trip
Over the past year, 67 unique volunteers helped out with our programs for over 670 hours of service. As a whole, Education programs serve over 8,000 students per year and offer a wide range of opportunities. Through our Big River Journey program, we give students the experience of an environmental science lab while enjoying a paddle boat ride, with most getting on the river for the very first time. With our Winter River program, students learn about how adaptation to the elements works for both them and the unique species within the park. Our Take Me to the River program gives many students their first experience with outdoor skills, from fire building to orienteering. The Working River program gives students an understanding of water power and how the Mississippi River helped build a fledgling metro area. These programs take specialized knowledge and a gift for assisting students in their educational development. Our volunteers continue to meet this challenge time and time again.
Students at Crosby Farm Regional Park attending Winter River Field Trip
These programs wouldn’t be possible without volunteers. Asking why our volunteers are drawn to the formal education side of the river, you would hear such responses as, ‘I like to see kids light up when something is understood,’ and ‘I have a lot to give and want it to be something that ensures a better future for our children.’ Sometimes the answer is as simple as, ‘I just like being on the river, so why not spend it with a kid.’
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Mississippi Park Connection’s youth education programs are generously funded by the National Park Foundation's Open Outdoors For Kids Grant Program, Xcel Energy Foundation, Boston Scientific Foundation, Ecolab Foundation, and generous members who contribute to the Ticket to Ride Scholarship Fund.
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