Kids in the Park

By Sarah Bearup-Neal
Sun contributor

The challenge was issued last February by the Dad-in-Chief, Barack Obama: Let’s get every kid into the national parks.

And so it came to pass.

Every Kid in a Park, an initiative to do just what its title says, kicked off Sept. 1 in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and all national parks. It focuses on fourth-grade students, who will be given free access to any national park, forest, land or water for the 2015-2016 school year. The pass also grants access to the fourth-grader’s family when in the company of said 9-year-old.

The Every Kid program aims to “engage and create our next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates,” the National Park Service (NPS) said. Fourth graders are the focus of this effort because they’re in a “sweet spot” of life, said Merrith Baughman, chief interpretations at the National Lakeshore.

“Kids this age start asking in-depth questions,” Baughman said. “They’re still eager and excited about learning.”

According to the NPS, 9-11 year olds are “at a unique developmental stage in their learning.” They have a better grasp of the world and the way it works. Their attitudes toward the natural world are still positive and they can “grow into the next generation of stewards, ready to support and care for these natural wonders and historical landmarks.”

“They’re still physically active so it’s a perfect opportunity for them to explore their surroundings,” said Kimberly Wright, Glen Lake Elementary School principal.

Getting kids into a park is about firsthand experience. A hands-on relationship with a park makes a lot of difference in one’s sense of investment and long-term connection to it; a simulated, computer-generated experience does not foster the same authentic relationship, said Paul Purifoy, SBDNL business manager who deals with fees and permits.

“Being in the park is a real experience,” Purifoy said. “To see a bird on a (digital device) screen is not the same as seeing and hearing it in its environment.”

“You can watch TV or go on the Internet all you want, but it’s the experiencing it that makes the natural world real,” Baughman said. “Having a personal experience with something is much better than having an indirect experience.”

Beginning in September, any fourth grader — including homeschooled children — can obtain a fee-free access pass by visiting the Every Kid in a Park website: NationalParks.org/ook/every-kid-in-a-park. Educators can obtain access passes for their students, too, at the website by entering the “Educators” section.

Typical of the activities organized to introduce nine-year-olds to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will be snowshoe tours this winter. School groups that sign up for a park field trip will be visited beforehand by a SBDNL ranger who will talk to the kids about why the park is protected, winter ecology and the cultural history of snowshoeing, the transportation tool of choice among native people, traders and explorers.

Mary Kay Archer, an elementary school teacher with the Interlochen Community Schools, is helping to develop curriculum for this project, specifically lesson plans about snowshoeing in the park.

“My twist is: Let’s make this into an historical lesson as well as a scientific one,” she said. Nine- and 10-year-olds are “so curious about what life was like long ago.” The slant Archer wants to emphasize is exploring the “perspective of the people who lived (in the what became the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore)” during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

“What was it truly like to live on these farmsteads? Did they have electricity? Where would they have gone to school if they were a nine- or 10-year-old on that farm? What would you do about food in the winter?” said Archer, a Leelanau County residents who descends from Leelanau homesteading families, Kropp and Dechow. “My dream is the kids will go out snowshoeing and want to bring back their families.”

“We have the snowshoes,” Baughman said. “The big impediment is getting the kids to the park.”

“Getting to the park is not a challenge because of where we live,” said Glen Lake Principal Wright.

But school districts that are not in the backyard of the Sleeping Bear Dunes are another issue. To address and surmount this hurdle, the Ticket to Ride transportation grants are available to reimburse schools for transportations expenses. The grants will be directed to schools around the country with the most need. SBDNL was selected as one of the parks to receive these funds, Baughman said. Sleeping Bear personnel will target school districts within 100 miles of the park. A portion of the $8,000 federal grant will be used to cover the cost of supplies and personnel connected with the outreach.

When Merrith Baughman was in fourth grade at Roosevelt Elementary School in South St. Paul, Minn., her class took a field trip to the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul.

“And that’s one of the reasons why I’m doing what I’m doing (professionally),” she said. “We’re really excited about (the Every Kid) program. We hope it leads to a lifetime love of exploring and getting out in the natural world. There’s a whole world out there to explore with endless possibilities.”

The eighth in a series of articles prompted by the National Park Service’s centennial celebration of its founding in 1916. One of the NPS’s birthday initiatives is Find Your Park, a multi-pronged program that invites people to discover the National Park in their backyard. Throughout 2015, the Sun is publishing stories about the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and people in our community who have developed a relationship with it.