Students Enjoyed a Day of Fishing, Birding, Playing, Relaxing, and Doing Service Work at Golden Ponds. Written by CI Senior Instructor Erin Angel.
Lafayette Explore Outside (LEO) is a new program for us this year. A small group of middle school-age students meets twice a month, once for an evening workshop and once for an awesome trip. We spent our November field day fishing at Golden Ponds in Longmont and doing a service project on a cool, sunny late-autumn day.
Half of our students had never been fishing before, so we spent some time learning to cast, and keep ourselves and the fish safe. The sun stayed low in the sky all day, so the fishing seemed extra relaxing. Apparently, the fish were relaxed, too, because they couldn’t be bothered to eat our yummy, stinky bait. So we watched the amazing bird life while our bobbers bobbed along untouched.
We brought our camp stove with us and made custom quesadillas for lunch. After lunch, we played an energizing game of Jays and Juncos, inspired by all the amazing birds in the area. In this game, one or two students act as sneaky Jays ready to rob the other birds’ nests. The rest of the students are cute, peaceful Juncos who try to hide their nests from the Jays, who are carefully watching as they bring food back to their nests. There were a couple of disappointed Juncos, so we gave them a chance for revenge with a few cutthroat games of Rocky Handy.
After our fishing and birding activities, we spent the end of the afternoon giving back to the place that had given us a beautiful day. The City of Longmont has a campaign to clean up fishing line at area ponds to keep our birds safe. We untangled fishing line from piles of driftwood, shrubbery, and tree branches. One of our students even donned waders to get some bobbers floating just out of reach. It is so impactful to do service work in a place where you have spent time recreating. It takes you from being a guest to being an integral part of the ecosystem. These students will forever feel like they belong at Golden Ponds.
A big thanks to the funders and supporters that make the LEO program possible, including: Enterprise Holdings Foundation, Great Outdoors Colorado, Patagonia, PeyBack Foundation, Strear Family Foundation, Thorne Nature Experience, Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program and the Xcel Energy Foundation.
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