JEFFERSON COUNTY —Courtney Armstrong asked her 44 fourth-grade students about the traits of an owl.
After answers rolled in ranging from hunting at night to acute vision and hearing, Armstrong told them that at the end of their weeklong outdoor day camp they would be wise like an owl and learn about the environment.
Armstrong is a supervisor for the Eagle’s Nest and Owl’s Roost Environmental Discovery program which, for the past 40 years, has given students in the Jefferson County area an opportunity to spend a week learning outside during the summer.
“I just love that kids can get outdoors, experience being outside and really involved with being in nature,” Armstrong said.
The ENOR program, as it’s called, was started in 1973 by B.J. Meadows, who was at the time the environmental education director for Jefferson County Public Schools.
She partnered with Margaret Culver with the Colorado State University Extension program to create a curriculum for students entering the fourth and fifth grades for a day camp teaching them about the outdoors and their surroundings. Meadows wanted to help complement the during the school year.
The fourth-graders are known as the Owl’s Roost, while the fifth-graders are in the Eagle’s Nest. Ten years ago, the program expanded to incoming third-graders, known as the Woodpecker’s Hollow, and just two years ago, incoming sixth-graders became Falcons.
Meadows said there were maybe 12 students the first year. Now the program runs for five weeks with 45 new students per week in each of the Owl’s Roost, Eagle’s Nest and Falcon programs and 30 in Woodpecker’s Hollow.
“It’s exciting to see it going strong,” Meadows said. “This is just amazing to me to see this.”
Meadows has long been an advocate of outdoor education and hands-on learning. She recently published a book, “Reflections: Learning By Doing,” which outlines the importance of that style of education.
Each grade participating in the Jeffco program has a different curriculum but groups meet at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds every morning. Older kids get on buses and head to different sites, while the third-graders stay at the fairgrounds.
The program is headed up by the CSU Extension office at the fairgrounds and is part of the 4-H program, which focuses on youth development.
“There’s such positive effects on everyone who is involved with it,” 4-H camp coordinator Sharon Moore said of the program.
During one session, the fourth-graders first went to South Platte Park to learn about water before heading over to Chatfield Reservoir to study the effects of a dam.
The students were broken up into three smaller groups led by staff who talked to them about the water table and gave them plastic cups for the students to construct their own small pond.
Matt Alexander, 18, led one of the groups. He’s a first-year staffer but has volunteered for the past five years. Alexander attended the camp when he was younger and said it’s had a big effect on him.
“I loved the hiking, loved the learning and the stories they are telling,” he said. “I just wanted to be back here.”
Moore said the program is supported by Jeffco Public Schools, which promotes it to eligible students. Parents can sign kids up at the at dpo.st/enor or in person. Cost is $190 for a week.
Moore added that many of the students will return in successive years.
“It’s amazing how they come back,” Moore said. “They’re so excited about being outside, seeing what they’re seeing and doing what they’re doing.”
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com
