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Sarah Hawkins leads a group of students on a nature hike and scavenger hunt through the property of the World Hunger Relief Farm on Tuesday during the organization’s summer camp, one of several free options open to Waco ISD students this year.
Bianca Ochoa leads a group of children on a tour at The Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village at the Mayborn Museum. Students in Baylor’s University for Young People camp are participating in a simulation involving an archaeological discovery this summer.
Sarah Hawkins leads a group of students on a nature hike and scavenger hunt through the property of the World Hunger Relief Farm on Tuesday during the organization’s summer camp, one of several free options open to Waco ISD students this year.
Reyna Shanks looks over items in the general store at the Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village at the Mayborn Museum during a tour for participants as part of University for Young People.
Summer campers hike through the woods at the World Hunger Relief Farm on Tuesday.
Master Gardeners Jeanette Kelly, left, and Irma Serrato work with children at the World Hunger Relief Farm summer camp.
A group of Waco Independent School District students have spent the past few days feeding goats and rabbits before taking a nature hike in the summer sun, while another group is spending some time tackling the intricacies of a simulated archeological discovery.
The school district’s free summer camp programs started this week, taking advantage of partnerships with local organizations to give students more than 15 camp options. Most of the camps are not orchestrated by Waco ISD. Rather, the district is paying for students to attend already established camps free of charge, using money given to the district in a federal COVID-19 relief package.
Organizations hosting the camps include World Hunger Relief Inc., Art Center Waco, Waco Civic Theatre, Baylor’s University for Young People and Waco ISD schools for a couple of culinary camps.
World Hunger Relief Executive Director Jonathan Grant, who recently won election to a Waco ISD board seat, said partnering with the district to offer a camp at the World Hunger Relief Farm near Elm Mott was an easy process because of the connections he formed with the administration while his children were in the district.
“We made it known that we would be willing to open up a couple of weeks just for Waco ISD students if they had any interest, and (the district) jumped right over,” Grant said. “We just love the idea of exposing children to food in its natural state, to how plants grow, to how we care for the Earth and why that’s important, but also some food-justice issues. The idea of partnering with the district that I love and making it available to parents for free just seemed like a home run piece. We are deeply grateful.”
World Hunger Relief’s partnership with the district provides spaces for 125 children entering first grade through fifth grade, spread over three weeks.
Students engage in a range of activities throughout the week, all geared at helping them to develop a deeper understanding of the natural processes required to grow food and how to take care of animals and the community, said Sky Toney, director of education at the farm.
On Monday the students were involved heavily with animal-based activities and were allowed to feed goats and rabbits. Many of the campers, including 7-year-olds John “Zeke” Raley and Mackynzie Davis, said playing games, making new friends and interacting with the animals, especially the goats and rabbits, are their favorite parts of the camp so far.
Tuesday morning the students were led by camp instructors through the woods on a nature hike and scavenger hunt, followed by a small break before continuing with more activities, Toney said.
“Later today they’re going to be building little bug houses for our garden and then they are going to do a seed ball activity. … They create a little seed ball, which is compost, clay and some native wildflower seeds. We will scatter them on the property to be a beneficial nectar source for pollinators,” Toney said.
Later in the week, students will be doing activities with plants and will work with compost, Toney said.
“AgriLife is partnering with us too and so they’ve got some folks coming out to do some activities with the kiddos about healthy eating and healthy communities,” Toney said. “Baylor University (has) some of their Ph.D. candidates coming to facilitate different activities as well. So we are doing some partnerships with folks in the community as well as hosting and facilitating some of our own fun farm activities.”
Grant said students are provided lunch daily, which includes locally sourced organic ingredients, some from the garden on the property hosting the camp. The campers surprisingly enjoyed the meal offered, Grant said, so much so some campers asked for seconds. Zeke described the meal as “like eating a piece of art,” Grant said.
Toney said the major lessons he wants students to take away from the farm are the importance of understanding where their food originates and the processes involved in making it available to the community.
“For the environment, there are beneficial ways to grow food and raise livestock and there are detrimental ways,” Toney said. “We are trying to give them a picture of how to do that in a sustainable manner, in a way that’s equitable for everybody involved.”
Another camp on the menu for Waco ISD students this summer is Baylor’s University for Young People, which has been running since 1993. Instructor Bianca Ochoa said she has been teaching at the camp since it got started. It has grown over the years and now allows first through 12th grade students participate in a simulation, where they have a “big mess” that they work toward finding a solution for throughout the week.
“We have a specific theme every year and this year it’s archaeology,” Ochoa said. “Someone found a dig and they found some artifacts and it’s our job this summer to find out what those artifacts are, who it belonged to, how do we take care of them (and) what do we do with them.”
Ochoa said students who attend the camp tend to enjoy the structure and seek out a deeper understanding of the topics, even at the first through third grade level.
“They want to know more, they have higher level questions, they interact with each other, as far as sharing information, and they are excited about learning, so even in this format they are constantly learning,” Ochoa said.
Audrey Stone, an incoming third grader, said she has enjoyed learning about archaeology and visiting the Mayborn Museum during camp.
“I think camp’s more fun (than school), because we get to do more fun stuff,” Audrey said. “At school you’re mostly just doing boring papers all day, but at camp you’re doing activities and going to the museum and that kind of stuff.”
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Sarah Hawkins leads a group of students on a nature hike and scavenger hunt through the property of the World Hunger Relief Farm on Tuesday during the organization’s summer camp, one of several free options open to Waco ISD students this year.
Bianca Ochoa leads a group of children on a tour at The Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village at the Mayborn Museum. Students in Baylor’s University for Young People camp are participating in a simulation involving an archaeological discovery this summer.
Sarah Hawkins leads a group of students on a nature hike and scavenger hunt through the property of the World Hunger Relief Farm on Tuesday during the organization’s summer camp, one of several free options open to Waco ISD students this year.
Reyna Shanks looks over items in the general store at the Gov. Bill and Vara Daniel Historic Village at the Mayborn Museum during a tour for participants as part of University for Young People.
Summer campers hike through the woods at the World Hunger Relief Farm on Tuesday.
Master Gardeners Jeanette Kelly, left, and Irma Serrato work with children at the World Hunger Relief Farm summer camp.
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