Student Spotlight

March 2026

Outdoor Ed: Dreamland

PHS Student Mavis' Experience as a Cabin Leader at Outdoor Education

When I first heard about Outdoor Ed, I was interested, but also hesitant. Am I really an outdoors person? Not really. And when was the last time I worked with kids??  But, I was slowly starting to get back into biology, and I knew that I personally did Outdoor Ed and had a blast. Also, I needed a break from life. So I signed up to go, and found out I was being sent the next week! One week to pack and prepare for however I was going to feel. To be honest, I procrastinated packing til the night before. The idea was so nerve wracking, I had no idea what to expect. Well, maybe an outdated idea, thanks to old guides and a very outdated packing list. (Who even owns an alarm clock anymore?)

Monday rolled around too quickly. Granted, I stayed up way too late packing and maybe had four hours of sleep. I tumbled around my room, packing my final things before getting into my ride, with Mr. Dauwe driving and Mr. Z in shotgun. Thanks to them, I didn’t have to take the bus two hours earlier than it already was! They got me on the bus with a bunch of loud fifth graders at 8am and off we went. On our ride there, I sat next to a girl named Evelyn. We chatted the entire drive. We talked a lot about becoming a teenager and I reassured her that being a teenage girl means becoming a part of the coolest group of people on Earth. Nobody is cooler than the girls who drive culture.

She turned to me, smiling, “I hope I get you as my cabin leader.” 

First day at Outdoor Ed was a lot of getting spoken at. Do this, try not to do that. Easy enough. The best and worst thing about doing Outdoor Ed for the first time is that you’re being put in a situation you have never been in before. What the heck am I gonna do with 14 kids by myself? And sleep in the same cabin with them? For multiple days?? No, no. This should be easy enough. 

We got assigned to our cabins and went to the campfire to meet our kids. Also, our naturalist. Mine was Ladybug, and she was the sweetest. Now my Madrone girls. 14 of them, some of them just about my height or taller. I was freaking out a bit inside. Would I be able to do this? It was a lot easier when the kids were below my shoulders. 

We brought our bags up to our cabin, which was not only uphill, but had stairs. Who in the right mind would build a cabin, a place you come back to after hiking for hours, with stairs?? I watched my poor girls heave their luggages up the hill, then groan at the sight of stairs. Me too.  Finally, we reached the top, getting to unpack. 

I have no idea who these kids thought I was, asking me questions I kind of thought as common sense. “Do I have to make my bed? Can I sleep here? Can I wear slippers in the shower?” Like I care. They immediately lit up. “You’re the best cabin leader ever.” First day brownie points! Tell them you don’t care where they put their stuff as long as it’s neat. They were sweet kids, but I learned something pretty quickly. We had a fire drill to attend before dinner and we were so much later than I intended. How many times do you say to grab a jacket and water bottle before all of them get the memo? Mental note to always start getting ready to leave seven minutes early.  Dinner was different, they sat kids not in our cabin at our table. After dinner, we stayed outside the dining hall to start working on our group skit. We came up with a theme, characters, and a vague idea of what to do. When it was time, we brought our kids inside to their night activity. Me and two other cabin leaders from my village supervised as our kids listened to the presentation, participating in the skits and songs. I didn’t expect for it to go on so long, we sat there for like, two hours. And the kids felt it too, sitting too long meant thinking about home. One of my girls started to cry, missing home and I swooped in with a hug before it got too bad. She was laughing and smiling again and I didn’t feel so bad about being too rusty. A win for all of us! Bedtime rolled around: The Madrone cabin is terrible at doing things in a timely manner, including me. Moving about the cabin after our supposed lights out, reading a bedtime story until 10 pm. But, I’m happy to say I had a quiet night of sleep, even if I woke up every other hour.

Tuesday came, and because I learned my lesson, everybody was up at 6:30 to get ready for breakfast at 7:50. I’ve never had worse sleep, but it was beach day. I braided yellow ribbons into my hair to match my outfit, and slowly, everyone was asking for yellow ribbons to be tied into their hair. The Madrone cabin was matching beautifully. 

The beaches were beautiful, it was such a sight. The tide pools were deadly but it was so fun finding little creatures between the rocks. The pebble beach was a universal favourite, the kids buried themselves in the colorful pebbles, drank chocolate milk, heaven. We took a break to eat lunch, my group sitting on a ledge, watching the waves crash into the rocks. My girls each had me fix their ribbons, tying them back into bows. I’ve never felt so lucky to live where I can see the ocean. Our last beach stop, the sandy shores. I hate sand, and yet I still enjoyed this day so much. Getting to see all the things that get washed ashore, all the decomposing crabs, the big logs starting to fall apart. It felt like an adventure straight out of the books. Don’t fall into the quicksand!  

We came back to camp, kids soaking wet from being buried in pebbles, some kids limping from falling at the tide pools, sand pouring out of their shoes. I was so excited to shower and just relax. Getting an hour to myself every day is a treasure. All the cabin leaders had a meeting after break time, to prepare us for our first cabin free time. Some of us, my village, had shower time. Super great especially after the kind of day we had at the beach. We ran through what to do, spoke to some more experienced cabin leaders with more tips, and on our way we went. 

Shower time is the most stressful thing you can put a teenager through. 14 kids, 2 minutes each. How was I supposed to get 14 girls in and out of showers and get them to dinner on time??  “Let’s join the caterpillar club and change into our swimsuits in our sleeping bags!” “Join the spa club and wash your hair in the sink before you get in the shower!” “Corner shower you have 30 seconds left!!!” “Get your dry friend to help you out!” After everyone had gotten changed into their new clothes, I had all my girls climb to the top bunks where we could all see each other. It was one of my favourite things about having such a small cabin, it was a great opportunity to connect with my girls. We went around in a circle talking about beach day and how they felt so far at outdoor ed. Everyone was happy, hooray! After dinner and some cabin time, our village brought our kids down to the Bandshell for their second night activity. I thankfully got a break this night and hung out in the office and bond with the other cabin leaders until it was time to pick up our kids. Bedtime went a little more smoothly, the girls were in bed much earlier than they had the night before, and they got in a little more reading time. Some slept so well we had a couple of snorers. Awesome for me, the last to fall asleep. 

Wednesday means we’ve hit halfway through the week. My girls woke up bright and early, thankfully. Too bad my sleep is only getting worse, I laid in bed for a while as they started to get ready.  Something great about the girls is that they love to be around me, but that’s also the not so great part. It’s 6:30 in the morning and there were four girls, clinging to the railing of my bunk, shoving their stuffed animals in my face. 

“Good moooorrnnning Mavis!!!!” 

It does make you wonder why you signed up for this. But it’s Big Trees day! After breakfast, we head back to the cabin to make sure everyone has a water bottle, a jacket, and whatever else they need. Then I made sure to usher them along to get to the Big Campfire on time. 

Big Trees day is a nice slowdown day, but only in activity, not movement. I groaned every step I took. My legs. Hurt. So Bad. I had a bit of a different group with me this day. We’d split my cabin with others and so I had a couple of boys in our group now! They were sweet and reminded me of my younger brothers in a way. We learned a lot about the animal life directly at Outdoor Ed and the CelebriTrees. Dead Fred, for example, was a big redwood tree who had been burnt a bit, and bugs nearby had taken advantage of it and eaten out a big hole in him. It was nice shelter from the sun, at least. Lunch passed. We went back to our activity, exploring the nature lab. The kids got to feel animal pelts and look at the bones of some, also some taxidermied animals as well. Eugh. 

Dropped the kids off at instructional time, had a midweek check in, showered, had another meeting, free time for the kids! We practiced our skit a couple of times, since our skit night was the next day!! And then after I let them do whatever to get their nerves out for…

The Night Hike. (Well, dinner, and then night hike.) The other groups had gone through the night hike by now and word had passed around there was a solo walk. The kids were terrified, walking in the dark?? There wasn’t much of a remedy for this other than to reassure them that if they trusted Ladybug and I, they’d be just fine. 

And fine it was. More than fine, it was amazing. We had no flashlights, and so it was just all of us in the dark, with the light of the moon to guide us. Just before the solo walk, we all sat in a small gazebo in a circle. Ladybug lit what she called the Courage Candle. Slowly, it was passed around as we each said who gave us courage. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was the candle lit vibes, maybe it was the sweet feeling of hearing who gave each kid courage, maybe it was thinking about my own best friend who gives me courage, but I got sooooooo emo(tional), a tear rolled down my face. Maybe more than one. We blew out the candle together and walked towards the plains, where there were no trees, no lights. Just us and the sky. I’d never seen the stars like this in my life, where you could see the faint lines that made stars constellations, and how the sky just enveloped the Earth like a big hug. When’s the next time I'm gonna see this again? And yeah, okay, I cried. And my girls did make fun of me for it. But it was just so beautiful. 

Bedtime went pretty smoothly, this time, Ladybug sang them to bed. It was nice to get some peace while I got ready for bed. The lights went out and so did I. 

Thursday. Garden day! And our last full day. Maybe that’s why I had been so emo last night. Waking up feels like it gets slower and slower every day. Outdoor Ed is fun, but it’s not a place you go to if you’re looking for good sleep. Getting ready is always fun though, putting on my cute clothes with matching accessories, putting in my earrings. Every morning, the girls cram into the bathroom to watch me do my makeup. It’s both endearing and a little unsettling. But alas! We’ve finally made it to a meal on time. 

Our garden day starts with some campfire songs while the cabin leaders get directions. Then off we go. My group got to go on their solo hike first, similar to their solo walk but at least it was guaranteed they could see. They seemed to really enjoy playing in the sticks while waiting for their turn to go, and judging from how they came back, they loved the small independence they got. Some of them dipped their heads in the pond full of algae which, gross, but good thing it’s shower day.  We head down to lunch then go up to the garden after. 

Even though every activity is pretty hands on and engaging, I’d say that garden day is the most hands-on. Naturalists and cabin leaders lead stations but are mostly there to just talk about the mini lesson while the kids do the actual work. My station was composting! I walked them through the stages of compost while they got to participate by pouring in some of their compostable lunch into the bin. Didn’t touch a thing, hooray. 

Free time, meeting – plotted and schemed for a minute. Then, the second and last shower time! It went much smoother than last time, and the girls had a bit more free time. Dinner rolled around and there it was, skit night. All the skits were so silly, and when it was my girls’ turn, I had my camera out so fast. There’s something that makes you so proud to see your not-kids on stage performing the silly skit you’ve worked on all week. And a surprise! They called the cabin leaders up to do our own skit. Cabin Leader Confessions: I went up with another cabin leader, a friend I’d made there, Ashley, and we confessed…that we’d burnt Dead Fred! It might’ve been the biggest reaction of the night, and it was just so fun to play along. 

Our campfire was starting to close out, and it was our last night and Outdoor Ed. And of course, they start singing songs about change and moving on. I’m starting to think my tears have got trigger words. It just started to happen, tears were falling out of my eyes and we were leaving tomorrow!!!! Noooooo!!1!1!!!11!! They were slowly dismissing the cabins and when I went to call my girls up, they all noticed. Thankfully, they didn’t tease me about it this time, and they were so sweet. We took a stop and had a big group hug. 

I got my girls into bed, read them to sleep, chatted with some that were still awake, and sat on my bed trying to fall asleep myself. But I just couldn’t. So I quietly walked out onto the porch, laid out my paper and pens, a spool of yellow ribbon, and started to write away. I wrote each girl a letter and tied a little yellow ribbon to it. 

“Read when you get home :)” 

Friday. Labelled on our schedule as “Goodbye!”, also the cruelest thing ever. I let the girls sleep in a little bit before waking them up to get ready for breakfast. We had a little bit of time to pack and clean up before bringing our luggages down to the buses. So I took the opportunity to hand each of the girls their letters and sent them off to the Bandshell while I had one last check in with Ladybug. We helped put the bags into the buses while the kids headed down to the campfire. I hadn’t cried since last night! Maybe I’d cried it all out. 

Lies. Campfire songs are catchy and fun but goodbye campfire songs will make you cry. Stop singing about change! I was such a sobbing mess. And even worse, they had all of the naturalists and cabin leaders line up on the kids’ way to the buses so they could say one last goodbye. I watched each of my kids walk through and run to hug me, tears running down all of their faces. Even the boys from our hiking group came to hug me as well. Anyone ever tell you goodbye hugs are the worst?

Yes, I was incredibly sad, but I was really excited to go back home too. I was exhausted, but rejuvenated, and I just wanted to tell everyone about Outdoor Ed. It’s been three weeks since then and I’m still talking about my girls and the program. I really think Outdoor Ed changed my life. 

I’ve been stuck in a rut for a while and I felt so aimless. Getting to go somewhere completely different, away from my usual routines, the news, my family.  It gave me the opportunity to see things in a different way, interact with new people, learn and relearn so many things. 

Some things I learned that were from negative outcomes: Bring a better pair of shoes, especially when you go to the tidepools. You can bring a hair dryer and perfume! Pack more in general. Be more stern and take advantage of the disciplinary system in place for you. Use the timer and not the stopwatch for showers. Make sure you have a mop before said showers. 

But also some things I learned that came from positive outcomes: Be yourself! Self explanatory, but the idea tends to prove itself every time you do it. Every time you go back, bring a matching accessory for every girl. (More ribbon spools.) Take the time to bond with every kid you’re around as much as possible. Be more goofy and whimsical. Always, always communicate.  

Even though I already have a background in public speaking, I still felt like I was pushed out of my comfort zone. But not in the way that awkward first day of school introductions go. Participating in songs and activities when everyone is excited to see what you bring to the table gives you the best feeling. I am so grateful that I got to be a cabin leader because it really brought me back to what it was like to be a fifth grader and being so eager to try new things. It reminded me to have more fun and live a little, sing and be silly.  Outdoor Ed is such a dreamland to be in and I am so grateful to get to experience its magic. Everything is just so much more lush and vibrant, and every single person is so passionate. The bus ride back home really felt like stepping back into the “real world”, and I crave the feeling to go back every day I’m here.