Glacier View Ranch came alive once again as a learning site welcoming students and teachers to a Rocky Mountain retreat near Ward, Colorado, Sept. 10-13. The ranch became a large school venue for grades five through eight represented by 157 students.
It was evident that the students enjoyed RMC Outdoor School. In the words of RMC superintendent of education, Diane Harris: “Oh, my goodness, they love it. They have been so excited and looking forward to it. The best part is that we had seen students reach out to other students from different schools to say, ‘Hey, are you coming to outdoor school this year?’” Harris added that they “could not do this without the support of the teachers that are willing to come in and teach classes. And then the parents who were volunteering to be chaperones.”
“It was fun,” commented Alexa from Mile High Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. In an Orienteering class “you could find the directions we were going and walk in nature,” she shared.
Lilia, eight-grader from MHA, confirmed that the RMC Outdoor School offered “a lot of fun. It’s my first time coming here, but it’s fun to camp with a lot of people my age and all my friends. We just came back from building shelters, and that’s probably my favorite thing so far.”
For her, the experience was more than the activities: “It was really fun meeting new people. Actually, I have a lot of friends from different schools now, so I’m enjoying it a lot.”
Unlike the younger class students, who stayed at the main GVR camp in the cabins, the eighth-grade students tent-camped in Pathfinder Village. Marsha Bartulec, principal of Vista Ridge Academy in Erie, Colorado, stated that eight-grade students participated in multiple activities, including rock climbing, first aide, GPS, blade safety, traps/hunting tools, shelter building, hiking, team building, and a service project.
Worship presentations by Brandon Westgate, RMC youth director, for grades five to seven showcased the theme “Summit Seekers: Step Up, Reach Out, Stand Firm” which dealt with humility and how Jesus—and we—reach out to people.
For the eighth-grade camp, Paul Negrete, RMC associate superintendent, shared valuable lessons for daily life. Bartulec said, “The students learned in biblical scenarios how the individual’s operating principle guided their decision-making. These operating principles guide our decisions in our life. The older we get, with more experience and understanding, we can conscientiously choose what operating principles we want to live by. The Holy Spirit can help us to process and understand what hidden operating principles are behind our decisions.”
A new feature of the RMC Outdoor School included support from the International Relief and Rescue Program at Union Adventist University in Lincoln, Nebraska, where program students Calista Covel, Christine Sturgill and Allen Stafford involved the students in learning many outdoor skills.
“We’re out actually practicing these things all the time. So, it’s not hard to be out here with the kids doing it,” Sturgill explained.
Among the chaperones at the RMC Outdoor School was Logan Earles, associate pastor from Littleton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Littleton, Colorado. “I’m enjoying this because it’s a good time to interact with kids that I don’t get to interact with often. It’s also fun because they’re learning skills that they wouldn’t learn in school,” he shared.
As you approached the Pathfinder Village, you smelled cooking. That’s where Cindy Roldan, registrar at MHA and Heidi Carpenter, associate pastor at LifeSource Adventist Fellowship, were preparing hearty meals for the group.
Referencing the remote location, Cindy’s said, “I have heard no complaints about the lack of technology. So that’s huge. There’s no internet here, and so it’s very healthy for them. And we’ve been blessed that we haven’t had any complaints.”
RMCNews with Marsha Bartulec, principal at Vista Ridge Academy