Have you ever considered being a mentor to younger kids before? Have you ever wondered what living and sleeping in a cabin would be like? Do you enjoy hiking and meeting new people? Then you’ll loved being a high school mentor at High Trails. From October 22-25th of this year, high schoolers at Palmer signed up to be mentors for 3-5th graders of Buena Vista Elementary at High Trails.
High Trails is an all-year outdoor camp in Florissant, Colorado located high in the mountains. The camp has a program during the school year called the Outdoor Education Center Program where they collaborate with schools in Colorado to have students use the outdoor camp atmosphere for learning. High Trails during the summer is the girls’ camp of a bigger camp called Sanborn Western Camps. The boys’ camp is called Big Spring.
I decided to be a high school mentor because I was a camper at High Trails this summer of 2024. I enjoyed my experience there so much I wanted to go back and be a mentor to kids.
“I enjoyed the hikes and activities we did with them. Also meeting and hanging out with the counselors,” said Tristan, who’s a sophomore at Palmer.
I went up to High Trails from October 22-25th and was assigned to the 5th graders of Buena Vista. In total, 15 high schoolers from Palmer and one from Coronado decided to be counselors. All the girl counselors and elementary schoolers stayed in the Juniper cabin and the boys stayed in Gold Hut.
“Pretty chaotic, but we had lots of fun. We made up games we could play to keep us occupied.” Tristan said since he stayed in the Gold Hut cabin with boys.
During the four days, we helped the leaders at High Trails teach outdoor lessons consisting of history, science, and nature. Incorporating fun activities to keep the children engaged and using problem solving skills was also part of the curriculum.
“I learned life skills like how to be a good leader and conflict resolution,” says Tristan.
We also got to teach some lessons to the kids. One of the activities was where the kids were learning about solar energy and used a box and put tin foil, black construction paper, and plastic wrap to make quesadillas. The kids worked in groups of 3 or 4 to build the box and work as a team.
“Watching them play games in the small cabin was hilarious.” Tristan stated.
The High Trails trip is something I believe most high school students at Palmer would enjoy a lot. Being able to befriend your fellow counselors, hangout with children, witness the beauty of nature, and learn something you didn’t even know.
Tristan has the last word: “You learn a lot about nature, get to spend time with friends, eat good food, and overall have a good time.”
