Making Connections

Here's how teens connect with each other. At least that's how it is at my school, representative of nearly every place on the planet, I'm sure. Everyone needs a break from the often tedious rigor of study. These girls show how it's done in the 21st century! "Who's winning?" "I don't know!" "Why are you playing it?" "It's fun!"

Still, there's no substitute for just being in nature. Two adolescents (daughter of a colleague and her friend) accompanied colleagues and me on a recon trip for an upcoming field trip. As we walked through a beautiful mangrove forest, tinny pop music wafted around us from one of the girls' MP3 player. Admonished by her mother, the girls said, "What can we listen to?" "Nature!" came the reply from all three of us. By the time we were ready to return, the two girls were enraptured by the goings-on in a tide pool on the beach, oblivious to anything other than the fascinating creatures they were observing.

Recently, a group of advanced biology students cautiously picked through a mowed lawn on campus to explore diversity, such as it is on a manicured field. One girl even asked if she could wear rubber gloves. These are kids going on the ecology field trip. I know for a fact that they will be as enthralled by what they find as the two younger girls were. I've never seen it fail. What has failed, is our ability to encourage kids to experience the wonder, beauty and mystery of nature. Far too many are disconnected from it.