That uniformity is why NorthBay uses nature as its tool for reaching kids from homes of anger and hostility as well as love and support.
What students take away from their experiences of digging for clams, maneuvering the ropes course, or making new friends may vary, but as Rising Sun Middle School Assistant Principal Holly Spangler puts it, “Any little pieces we can put into their puzzle are certainly going to help make them more wellrounded, better citizens and give them something that, a little bit down the road, is going to click.”
Hitting home
“Filters” clicked with D.J. Ragan, the second-time sixth grader in MIP. NorthBay teaches that, like wetlands in the environment, filters help kids sift good influences out from the bad ones and help them make positive decisions.
“Filters are what help you, like your mom and dad and Miss Kalista,” Ragan says.
Connie Kalista, director of MIP, oversees Ragan most days. “I get less retaliation from him because of [NorthBay], and I get less verbal disrespect—tons less,” she says.
Ragan, who, despite his “behavior problems,” has a pleasant demeanor and seems to demonstrate his teacher’s remark. “NorthBay has helped me a lot. I didn’t get mad there once because I was around my friends, and we got to interact with different people, too. We actually got to be out in the environment and see what happens, instead of writing all the time,” he says.
Yet, despite his progress, after two trips to NorthBay and almost two years in sixth grade, Ragan is still in MIP. Kalista, who has a closer relationship with her students than traditional teachers, explains why. “You can’t fix things overnight. A week at NorthBay is not going to fix it; it’s going to impact them. They realize they may continue to make mistakes—we all do—but it’s a little easier to take responsibility for it,” she says.
The flip side
Ragan is the type of student who looks for filters. If he happens to run into Ceara or Devan Barker, he might find one.
“In the future, when you get a job or you’re in high school, you want to be a good filter. You want to be a good influence for everyone,” says Devan Barker, reaching across her desk to help a peer with scientific notation.
While the twins learned from nature, they also grew from relationships built that week. “As they began to learn more, they started coming at it from a different approach, like, ‘What can we take from this and use to help our friends?’” says Luttrell, their educator. “They recognized that they’re blessed, and they want to give that to people.”
At NorthBay, students like the Barker twins have the chance to see their potential. And so do students like D.J. Ragan.
They all have an opportunity to glimpse how, like an ecosystem’s delicate balance, they depend on and support each other. More importantly, at NorthBay they learn how to make it happen in their own lives.
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