Parkway Sixth-Graders Explore The Outdoors

On Monday, approximately 98 Parkway South Middle School sixth-graders left the commodities of the city for a one-week environmental experience in Potosi, MO.

Every year, all Parkway schools: Central Middle, Northeast Middle, South Middle, Southwest Middle and West Middle School, take sixth-graders on a field trip as part of their science curriculum. Monday, it was Parkway South’s turn to take students out in the open.

The core focus of the program is to teach students about environmental conservation in order to better understand their science curriculum, according to camp coordinators. At the camp, located at YMCA of the Ozarks in Camp Lakewood, students learn how to preserve the soil and develop outdoor skills such as fire making, orienteering and archery. Additionally, another main focus of the program is to teach students how to make better connections with each other.

“This alternative site gives students experiences that are difficult to replicate at school,” said Ron Ramspott, the Health, Outdoor and Physical Education Coordinator for the Parkway School District. “Certainly there’s a lot to learn about the curriculum, but there’s also a lot of learning about life as well.”

At the camp, students don’t have access to television or cellphones, unless they have to contact their parents. Nevertheless, Ramspott said students have a full-time nurse, nighttime security patrols and trained high school students who supervise and help develop relationships between the groups throughout the week.

Mary Frecks, mother of four, has had all of her children go to camp.  Erika, her youngest daughter, left with the rest of the sixth-graders Monday.

Frecks said that though it’s difficult to be apart from her children for a week, she knows they’ll have fun, and it will be a good learning experience for them.

“It’s an opportunity for students to flourish in a non-traditional school setting,” said Angela Frye, assistant principal at Parkway South Middle School, about the camp program. “They also learn responsibility, camaraderie and working as a team to get things done.”

But this outdoor experience isn’t new to the science program. It was first held 40 years ago and has continued since. The outdoor program has 95 percent participation from students and it’s partially funded by the district and student fees. Families pay $280 for the entire week.

Those families who cannot pay for the program have the option of scholarship opportunities that cover half the cost. In extreme cases in which a child cannot attend, the school may design an alternative curriculum for them according to their needs. 

Ronspott, however, encourages all students to participate and connect with the environment, emphasizing that in today’s technology-driven world not many children get to interact with nature.