“It’s just motivating to see someone get a little spark in their eye,” says Corinne Wilkerson, Land Stewardship Coordinator at The Kensington Conservancy, when discussing TKC’s annual Explorer Summer Day Camp program for children aged eight to twelve.
The Kensington Conservancy has a small staff, so running a summer camp means that for one week Corinne gets to put a camp counsellor cap on top of her summer responsibilities of property monitoring and fieldwork. The camp also depends on some key partnerships with local organizations and the commitment of dedicated volunteers. It’s through these partnerships that the camp can be offered to families at an affordable rate.
The St. Joseph Island Hunters and Anglers Association hosts the camp at their facility on St. Joseph Island, where children are introduced to some unique experiences like canoeing and archery. Volunteers make lunches and snacks for the children and provide archery instruction. Corinne mentions a colleague’s daughter who discovered a passion for archery at the camp years ago, and as a teenager is now competing in provincial archery competitions.
They also have a partnership with Sault College, where some of their technicians bring the canoes and run the canoeing program. Corinne mentions that there’s also an outdoor education teacher from one of the local schools who volunteers each summer because of his love for the program. Summer students through the Canada Summer Jobs program round out the camp’s staff – while most of their work over the summer will be hands-on in the field, their week at camp working with youth can sometimes be a bit out of their experience and comfort zone. “It’s great work experience for them to learn how to teach the knowledge that they’ve gained to the next generation,” says Corinne.
In addition to their July Explorer Summer Day Camp, The Kensington Conservancy offers a weekly drop-in for children aged four to eight and their parents over the summer. They are also collaborating on community education programming like the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre’s Jane Goodall: Reasons for Hope Educational Outreach program and Ontario Envirothon.
If you’d like to find out more about TKC’s offerings for children and youth, visit www.kensingtonconservancy.org.
