By Lily Gordon, Program Coordinator

Meg Ito, Brandon Tolentino-Serrano, and I walked into the Foundry, a beautiful Cambridge building with lots of light and high ceilings. It was the Cambridge Out-of-School-Time (OST) Symposium, a time for Cambridge afterschool educators to connect and share skills As we entered the crowd, we immediately split off in different directions to greet and catch up with many friendly faces. We’ve partnered with Cambridge OST programs for years now, and we have many strong connections at schools and programs across the city. As we caught up with other educators and coordinators, the announcement started over the loudspeaker: it was time for workshops. Meg and Brandon made their way to the conference room that was set up for their workshop: The Nature of Middle School.

As over a dozen educators settled into the conference room, Meg and Brandon began their thoughtfully designed slideshow. The training focused on how to run a successful outdoor program geared towards youth, especially those in middle school. Many educators find it difficult to engage middle schoolers, so Meg and Brandon wanted to share some knowledge of what’s worked well for us in our Environmental Leadership Program, which is now in its fourth school year of providing high quality nature enrichment for youth aged 11-14.

Meg started off with a compelling argument for why nature connection is so essential for youth: it can do everything from reducing stress to developing stronger interpersonal skills to increasing problem solving abilities. Next, Brandon dove into a detailed explanation of the elements that make the middle school program successful, emphasizing the importance of accessibility for bilingual and low-income students, positive mentorship, and setting and upholding group expectations in a way that gives the students agency and belonging. Brandon encouraged participants to reflect on their own middle school experiences in small groups, helping us empathize better with the struggles and beauty of this unique developmental stage. Meg gave examples of hands-on outdoor experiences we provide at our Nature Linc site, such as roasting s’mores around a campfire and making fresh pressed apple cider.

This workshop is an example of something Nature Linc is doing more and more of lately: providing support and training for other educators. We know that we can connect youth with nature, but we’re a small organization: we want to spread the knowledge and skills we’ve gained to other educators to build community awareness so that many adults will understand the importance of connecting children with nature. The workshop ended with a hands-on nature craft, letting participants try a fun example of something they can do to incorporate nature and mindfulness into their own programs. The room got quiet as everyone focused on their clay nature ornaments, carefully arranging tiny dried flowers and pine needles in elaborate designs on clay. Participants all took home a physical memento, and we also hope they took home new ideas on how to engage their youth with green spaces.

Watch the workshop: https://www.youtube.com/live/c-8WM6iY6-k

FNL’s Workshop at the Cambridge OST Symposium