Contributed article
SAFFORD — On May 29-30, the Eastern Arizona Science Initiative presented its annual Environmental STEM Camp for high school youth, but with a twist — this year’s camp was an adventure in wilderness survival.
The previous Environmental STEM Camps were held in Payson and Mayor in central Arizona. In an effort to minimize costs so more youths can participate, the camp was held closer to home on Mount Graham, so the youths could learn about and enjoy the local natural resources.
Fourteen local high school aged youths spent three days and two nights on Mount Graham, learning a variety of wilderness survival strategies. Lewis Booth, from Freeport-McMoRan, taught the students how to build emergency shelters and, despite the threat of skunks visiting, most of the youths slept in their shelters on the second night.
Dr. Phil McBride, EAC senior dean, taught how to make fire and had the students race to build a fire big enough to burn an overhead string. Paul Anger, EAC Discovery Park director, taught archery and directed the annual archery competition with Tempe Bigler winning the girls’ competition and Aiden Ybarra winning the boys’ competition.
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Becky Booth, Duncan High School and Tawnie Anger, Pima Jr. High School, taught courses in emergency first aid and safety. Heather Dillman, Fort Thomas High School, taught rescue signaling and a compass course to discover a treasure.
Ethan McBride, EAC Biology Professor, taught about what lives in water, what it can do to humans, and how to make water safe to drink in an emergency situation. Kurt Palmer, ASU program manager, provided all of the meals for the camp, and included several ideas on preparing food in an emergency.
There were also other fun activities, including a special in-depth tour of the three telescopes at the Mount Graham International Observatory (MGIO). They also learned flag etiquette — specifically on how to present and retrieve the U.S. Flag every morning and evening — as well as a special lesson on what the flag represents and how to correctly retire it; and the camp concluded with an afternoon of kayaking, fishing, and relaxing at Riggs Lake.
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Eastern Arizona Science Initiative is a non-profit organization of local educators and professionals with the goal of improving STEM education opportunities in Graham and Greenlee counties.
Funding for the annual camp is through donations to the Eastern Arizona Science Initiative, with a special thanks to the Freeport-McMoRan employees for their generous help.
For more information on the Eastern Arizona Science Initiative’s Youth Camps and Teacher Professional Development events, contact Paul Anger at paul.anger@eac.edu.
