Latest news with #outdoorEducation
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Students prepare for leadership roles through SPARKS Wilderness Retreat
How Minnesota students are learning about leadership through wilderness skills How Minnesota students are learning about leadership through wilderness skills How Minnesota students are learning about leadership through wilderness skills A group of high schoolers from diverse backgrounds gathered at YMCA Camp Ihduhapi in Loretto, Minnesota for the SPARKS (Student Peer Adventure and Recreation Knowledge Specialists) Spring Leadership Retreat, where they honed their wilderness skills and developed leadership qualities. The SPARKS program serves students from low-income and underrepresented communities who might not otherwise have the opportunity to explore the outdoors. "We do primarily serve the underserved population to increase access and equity in the outdoors," said Izzie Smith, SPARKS Twin-Cities Education Program Manager. This program helps them guide their peers this summer in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). This program, which is valued at approximately $2,000 dollars per student, is made possible through funding from the Legislative-Citizen Commission of Minnesota (LCCMR), ensuring that transportation, gear, food and lodging are provided at no cost to the participants. "I didn't really have the chance to be out in nature that much," said Yuepheng Yang, soon-to-be Harding High School graduate. The SPARKS program inspired him to switch from computer science major to a degree focused on conservation. "It did inspire me a bit, I'm looking into environmental science because I'm looking to join the DNR," said Yang. The year-round retreat is a key component of the SPARKS program, an initiative from the Friends of the Boundary Waters aimed at preparing students to serve as peer leaders on BWCA trips for their schools. Also helping inspire soon-to-be Burnsville High school graduate, Faith Nyamoita, to pursue the unknown. "When I had met Faith she had never been camping in her whole entire life, never been canoeing and never spent time outside," said Smith. "There's lots of skills I could need in nature that I never thought I'd learn," said Nyamoita. Nyamoita came to America from Kenya at 9-years-old, jumping into news skills is nothing new. When she joined a similar program with Smith, she picked up how to swim, make fires and set up camp sites. Now, she is looking to take her next leap. "I just got introduced to something new, and I just go, let's do it.," said Nyamota. "So that's why I accepted to go into the Marines." Just a week after she graduates, she will be joining the Marines in a non-combat role. "The best thing about working with these kids is that they are a group that's so kind, so accepting and so encouraging," said Smith. All the leaders in the programs come from local schools and community organizations including Harding High School, Burnsville High School, MWMO Green Team, CLUEs YA!, and Wildlife Refuge. Where they learn skills such as paddling, canoeing, campsite setup and conflict resolution. This will mark the end of their first year with the SPARKS program, where new students will be brought in next fall. The funding for the next season of wilderness volunteers relies heavily on the funds from the LCCMR.
Telegraph
23-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
I hadn't been feeling well, then doctors removed 13 of my organs
A former outdoor education instructor has said she is enjoying 'whatever time she has' after having 13 organs removed during her treatment for an incurable cancer. Rebecca Hind, 39, is now restricted to a diet of electrolyte fluid solution and a daily cocktail of 50 to 60 tablets including codeine, Imodium and hormone replacement therapy. Ms Hind, from Eden Valley, Cumbria, was diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) in 2019. Doctors have since removed 13 organs and body parts that had become cancerous and developed tumours. During two surgeries, medics removed her greater omentum (part of the stomach), gall bladder, spleen, large bowel, womb, uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix and rectum. They also removed a portion of her stomach and small bowel, and the surface layer of her liver and both sides of her diaphragm. Determined to look on the bright side, Ms Hind said: 'I turn 40 this year and I want to say yes to everything – I've been surfing, in a hot air balloon and dog sledding so far. 'The message I want to get across is when you have a stoma or an incurable diagnosis, things will be incredibly difficult. 'My daily life is a rollercoaster – but with the right attitude, you can still achieve a lot. 'And more importantly, enjoy whatever time you have.' Ms Hind began noticing unusual weight gain around her stomach in 2018, but she simply continued exercising to try to lose it. She became concerned after contracting food poisoning during a work Christmas meal in December 2018. While her colleagues recovered, Ms Hind's sickness inexplicably remained for two months and after several visits to the hospital she had a CT scan and biopsies which diagnosed the one-in-a-million disease. Ms Hind said: 'By the time they found it, I was pretty much riddled with it. 'It was heartbreaking. But I've just got to try to get on with life, and deal with whatever comes my way.' In April 2019, she had a surgery at The Christie hospital, Manchester, to remove her appendix and umbilicus, lesser omentum and six litres of mucin. When tests later showed the cancer was a high-grade and more aggressive form of PMP which was present on lots of organs, Ms Hind tried eight rounds of chemotherapy, but it did not shrink the cancer enough. She travelled to Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital in November 2019 where specialists performed an extreme and lengthy procedure – dubbed 'the mother of all surgeries' – in a bid to remove all the abnormal tissue. Months on, Ms Hind learnt that the surgery had not eradicated the cancer and it was classified as incurable. She does not know how long she will live.
