Who:
Sarah Bly
Member
Where:
Newport, NC
Today and every day, I am a wilderness counselor. I work for Eckerd Youth Alternatives, a non-profit organization designed to provide at-risk youth with the life skills they need to survive in the modern world.
This particular morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. in my campsite in the Croatan National Forest to make my bed and prepare for the morning chore routine, before waking up the ten teenage boys that I am solely in charge of. We make all of our wooden tents that we live in by hand (boys are more respectful of property when they've had a hand in making it). I woke up two bedwetters so they could change their sheets before the rest of them woke up at 7 a.m. to make their beds and get clothes together for showers.
After setting behavioral goals in that morning's Pow-Wow, we cleaned our outhouse, made kindling and shavings to burn for that evening's Pow-Wow, raked the campsite, cleaned our kerosene lanterns, and then hiked up trails to the main cafeteria for breakfast (all six groups eat together here).
After breakfast, we sang loud camp songs and one of the counselors taught leave-no-trace camping skills for some groups who are preparing to go out on 21-day canoeing trips and ropes courses. This day, my group was going to Hammocks Beach for an ecology hike with a park ranger. We packed a non-cook lunch and took a ferry to Bear Island to explore one of the many barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina.
After the trip, we talked about what we could do to protect wildlife and preserve habitat for them. After a nice dinner and showers back at camp, we evaluated our behaviors, went to bed, and I sang songs until they fell asleep.
