BITA: A Few Words from Rick and Ellen
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OK, so Rick Hogged the entire page...
Several years ago, while kayaking below historic Fort Snelling on a January afternoon, I met Ellen Nacik, a school psychologist at Webster Open School in Minneapolis. It turned out we had several things in common. In addition to both working with kids (I am a 6th grade teacher at Lincoln Community School, also in Minneapolis). We were both members of the Twin Cities Sea Kayaking Association, and had both taken students on various excursions outside of school hours. As we related the different trips we'd taken students on, we agreed that some of the most meaningful relationships we shared with students originated outside of the classroom or school setting on these trips.
Over the next two years of paddling together and getting to know each other, we frequently found ourselves wishing we could share the experiences, sights and excitement of sea kayaking with the students we both worked with. Having both set up mentorships for former students and having acted as mentors ourselves, we began to consider combining our love of the outdoors with our work with children.
Working with an enthusiastic group of friends from school, the Twin Cities Sea Kayaking Association community, and Matt Kjorstad of Beacons (an organization which provides after-school programming to promote resiliency in youth at both Webster and Lincoln), our team has collaboratively put together a year-long mentorship program for a group of 5th through 8th grade students. The experience will culminate in a three-day sea kayaking trip to the Apostle Islands. In the bi-monthly meetings leading up to the trip, students and their mentors will research various topics related to sea kayaking, science and Lake Superior. Guest speakers will present hands-on sessions on area history, biology, geology, weather, shipwrecks and lighthouses. Students, their mentors and families will have an opportunity to try sea kayaking at a local pool, go orienteering in area parks, and even visit the National Weather Service Office in Chanhassen.
Our goal, in addition to exposing youth to the sport of sea kayaking and the wonders of the outdoors, is to provide a structure around which to develop rewarding relationships between the students of Webster and Lincoln schools and adult professionals from the Twin Cities. We hope that some, or all of these relationships continue after the kayak trip is over and inspire students and mentors to coordinate similar adventures or reunions in years to come.
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