Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  Sometimes a year of uncertainty and anxiety can evolve into a new world of confidence and comfort in a short period of time if given the right support and mentoring. That step up can go even further when a group works together to meet the challenge of change.

For the past three weeks, a group of Nederland Middle School students attended a day camp designed to augment their leadership skills and inspire them to work with their classmates and incoming students. Laura Timken, student council sponsor, gathered 18 incoming sixth, seventh, and eighth graders to participate in Camp REACH, a science, reading and writing summer camp in its initial year.

REACH stands for Respect, Empathy, Achievement, Community, and Honor, which has been adopted as the Nederland Middle Senior High School theme, inspiring banners and posters all over the school. With those values in mind, the new camp partnered with the University of Colorado Mountain Research Station north of Nederland. For two days of the Monday-Thursday camp week, the students joined the research staff to learn more about the high country environment and how to analyze what they learned.

But most important of all, they learned how to relate to each other and discover their own skills and talents. Daily reading and math sessions strengthened their weaker subjects, helping them to relate the concepts to actual uses. They made gardens, they worked on crafts, they watched ants.

This is the first year of Camp REACH. The participants were invited to attend the three-week camp based on their ability to be strong leaders. Next year, Timken says, there will be more openings, with the maximum being 25 students. Applications will be available in the spring.

Upcoming sixth grader Marina Fortunado says she has been nervous about moving to the middle school, a whole new building. “I was so nervous I couldn’t even open the new lock for my locker.” But after spending time at the research station, learning how to describe plants through words and drawings, analyzing the foliage in a six inch by six inch plot, she feels like she has more tools, more ways to express herself.

“I feel more comfortable now that I know things better and know more people. I learned to have fun and keep my head up.”

Heading into eighth grade, Jamie Lammers said he heard about the camp and it sounded interesting. Jamie is fascinated with science and reading but wasn’t so sure about math.

“But it turned out better than I thought it would,” he says. “I really enjoyed the Soundscape. We sat in the forest and listened, put ourselves in the middle of a circle and graphed the sounds around us. I am more ready for eighth grade now, and learning the multiplication table will help me a lot. I also sang. At random points in the camp, I sang out loud just because I was in the mood for singing.”

Also going into eighth grade, Marguerite Bradley said she heard about the camp midway in the year and asked to be part of it. She had been told she would be a good role model and even though she isn’t sure why, she says she liked the thought.

“The first day we did a Soundscape and then a Haiku poem. It was an eye-opener. We also learned awesome vocabulary words like ‘obfuscate’ and ‘nuance.’ I usually get freaked out about catching up with my math, but this helped me get on top of it. It was very fun.”

Last Thursday, the last day of the camp, the kids gathered at the school ice cream and goodbyes, knowing that they are much better prepared for the next school year and more able to help lead their peers.