The Pleasant Valley School District strives for excellence not only within the school wall but also outside of it through the annual 6th-grade campout, where students spend two days camping in cabins. This program was originally founded by Margaret McNamara and Dave Langtimm.
The first 6th-grade campout was 41 years ago, kicking off from Riverdale Elementary School with 6th-grade teachers Margaret McNamara and Dave Langtimm. They initially spent a single day with their students in the spring exploring nature and taking care of this world as a part of a social studies lesson.
After this lesson, Langtimm wished he could take his students on a campout. This idea was inspired by the outdoors program at Iowa City where he had been a student teacher. During his program, the students went out with tents and sleeping bags to camp out in one of the local parks for four nights. Langtimm told McNamara that it was fun, and he enjoyed it.
The proposal of their campout caused McNamara to start thinking of ways to make it a reality. “I did not want to take tents and sleep in a sleeping bag and be outside for 5 days with all those kids, so I started looking for a place maybe where they might have cabins or something,” McNamara explained. She liked the idea but wasn’t sure how to execute it yet.
McNamara started making a sincere effort in trying to make the campout happen a few years after the idea was brought up. “I started calling people I had run into from one place or another, and asking if they had an environmental person. [I asked] them if they took their kids out and if they did, where did they go?” she questioned. During this process, McNamara finally found a church camp that could host a student campout.
The site turned out to be just what McNamara was looking for. It had cabins for the kids, a big dining hall, a huge playing area and a creek. “It was perfect. it really was perfect,” McNamara expressed. She and Langtimm got permission from the principal to tour and discuss having a campout there.
McNamara called the campsite and booked a time in May. After doing this, she told Langtimm the good news, and he was very excited.
The duo began planning and approving everything. McNamara and Langtimm first convinced their principal and curriculum director of the campout idea, then they got the go-ahead from the superintendent.
While planning the curriculum, there were many factors to think about including cost, activities and lessons the teachers wanted the students to get out of this. McNamara and Langtimm created a focus on interacting well with others in groups of all kinds.
McNamara contacted the PTA asking if the 6th graders could run a ring toss game, they threw embroidered rings over liter bottles, to help pay for the cost. After the game, the net expenses left each student to pay around $15.
As for activities at the campout, the students made paper, did a scavenger hunt, tie-dyed T-shirts and learned about nature through various means.She also assigned each kid a chore to teach them the importance of picking up after themselves.
The camp had a large dining hall with all kinds of tables throughout. McNamara liked the round tables because they encouraged kids to talk to everyone, not just people they already knew.
McNamara also enjoyed watching her students learn and seeing how they applied different skills outside of the classroom. “No matter who the kids were and what they did with paper and pencil, they accomplished the same things as the others accomplished and sometimes they were even better at it. When we had the scavenger hunt of things you were supposed to go out and find, some kids had a chance to shine who were in the high reading group,” McNarma expressed. These activities highlighted each kid’s strengths and weaknesses outside of the classroom.
McNamara and Langtimm also recruited high school kids as counselors who would sleep in the cabin with the 6th graders and help facilitate the activities. The first group of high school volunteers were McNamara’s son, his friends and a couple of other high school students.
The 6th-grade campout soon became a district activity after the Riverdale students shared their positive experiences. The PTA also loved the campout and soon arranged for all of the elementary schools to have their version.
High school seniors still remember their 6th-grade campout. Senior Merritt Scales, who went to Hopewell Elementary, conveyed, “I had fun at 6th grade campout and I definitely made memories that I will remember for the rest of my life.”
Senior Ryan Pottratz, who went to Pleasant View, volunteered for the 6th campout this year. “I’ve gotten all of my junior/senior hours doing campout, and I do it because I love giving back to the community,” Pottratz stated. Pottratz volunteered for the 6th graders in the same way high schoolers had done for him.
This service is a way of giving back to the community, and helping positive traditions continue through the younger generation.
