Harford Glen is a fun field trip where 5th graders in Harford County get to learn about nature, animals, recycling, and being a steward of the environment. A steward is someone who always tries to not only help nature but help people when they need it without being asked and be a steward to yourself too. While on this field trip, your fifth-grade class goes for two and a half days, and they have the choice to spend the night or not. It would be hard for the teachers and Harford Glen staff to keep the kids under control, so 10th-12th graders can volunteer to be a counselor. I applied and luckily was accepted. I went for a full week, but you can choose to only go for half a week.
When I first got there, I took my bags to the cabin where all the boys stayed and went down to the “Chickadee Room,” which was the room where all the counselors would go to have meetings, keep their food or drinks, and where all the extra stuff you might’ve forgotten at home was. Then I was introduced to the rest of the counselors. There were six girls from all over Harford County and only one other boy. Apparently, there were supposed to be two other boys but didn’t show up, so I and the other boy made sure to put in extra work to help the staff.
The first group we had was Swan Creek, so the group was small, which was a nice introduction to Harford Glen, because I was one of the only counselors who had not been a counselor before. We started off by meeting all the kids and getting the ones who were staying the night all ready. Fortunately for me, the other counselor only had one boy staying the night, so we had a lot of fun hanging out with him. At night we would play card games and talk about school and stuff. Every morning when we woke up, we would have breakfast, it consisted of an entrée, like French toast sticks with yogurt and fruit, granola, and a ton of cereal. You could choose a juice or milk, but the counselors and staff had coffee, and hot chocolate arrived on Friday. After that we would go on with our first activity of the day, like bird banding, where we would watch the birds get identified and watch the band be put on. We did other stuff around the park too, like stream doctors, which was when we filtered stream water and looked for micro invertebrates; another one was bird watching, where we would walk around the park with binoculars, and we marked all the birds we saw and heard.
After that the counselors would have a break to catch up on some homework, have a quick snack, or practice the songs and skits the counselors perform at the end of the night. For the first group, it was so small the kids could join in the skits, but the second group was way too big. After the break we would go eat lunch, which was an entrée, like orange chicken and rice, always with a vegetarian option, with salad and fruits, and after everyone gets their first serving, you can go up one at a time to get seconds. After lunch we would go back out for the second-to-last activity of the day. Then after that was recess, where we would usually play kickball or gaga ball. Then we would go on to our last activity of the day and get our last break before dinner. After that we would do our skits and songs, and then a staff member would lead the Harford Glen song. On the last night of each group, about two or three students from each class would get a stewardship award.
In the end, the kids wrote notes for a counselor or two and receiving them was great. While reading the notes I received, I realized a few things: the small things you do that you don’t notice, like something as simple as giving someone a compliment or helping someone clean up, can be so impactful on someone’s day, even when you don’t realize. Overall, I had an amazing time, it was a great learning experience, and I had a lot of fun. If you like the outdoors and you’re good with kids, you should definitely apply!
