Our Place Summerschool is designed to “unplug” your child by bringing them into direct contact with the creatures, geologies, hydrologies and infrastructures of the Nonotuck biome and the Westfield River watershed.

Students learn how read the land and watercourses, comport themselves responsibly in sensitive habitats, and gain awareness of their ecobiotic self—the self that is not industrially based, that is the gift of our ancestors shared by us all.

This self, the “biocitizen,” is more than citizen of a nation; we are participants in an evolutionary history that includes every other lifeform, past and present. We explore the land that gives us life and, through questions raised or that jump out on the trail, we build a sense-based, actual understanding of how we fit into “our place”—our place in place! When we know where we are, we can actually know who we are; and with these understandings, can take care of the land and ourselves thereby.

> Read our article in Field Environmental Philosophy: Education for Biocultural Conservation.

Additional Information

• Parents pack student’s food and water, and dress them in weather-appropriate clothing. River-walking shoes are required; Keens are the best.
• Each Wings and Sharpshins session runs M-F, 9am-3pm.

Every Wings and Sharpshins group consists of 1 adult teacher, 1 ass’t teacher, 2 assistants in training (AIT), and up to 11 students. The 4 to 1 staff to student ratio lets us break up into smaller groups at any given moment, which allows students to lead investigations—a personal growth opportunity that we encourage.

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Regulatory Compliance & Licensing Statement:

This camp complies with regulations of the MDPH & is licensed by the LBOH.

Wings Sessions

Wings sessions are designed for younger students who want to explore awesome places, & learn and have fun, without being forced to go on hikes that are too long and hard. The general, but not strict, age is from 6 to 10.

Wings move softly through forests, fields and rivers, and are encouraged to perceive how these places “open up” to those who are sensitive—i.e., “able to sense.” Expect 1 to 2.5 miles of hiking a day.

• Basic principles of soil, forest, wetland, pond, river ecology
• Basic principles of geology
• Names and ways of local plants, fungi, insects and animals
• Cultural history including architecture and patterns of human inhabitation
• River Walking
• Tubeless tubing
• in toto: the dynamic biophysical characteristics of the five ecoregions of the Nonotuck Biome, and the East Branch of the Westfield River.