Participant Comments - Highlights
Iowa American Wilderness Leadership School (AWLS) program
The comments below are from men and women from across the US and Europe who have attended the Iowa AWLS program. They truly reflect the quality of the Iowa AWLS program, not only for the participants themselves but also for the children they teach and influence.
Click here or on any picture below to enjoy the Iowa AWLS Photo Album.
Click here to read more participant comments.
Click here or on any picture below to enjoy the Iowa AWLS Photo Album.
Click here to read more participant comments.
General
- Very good communication and encouragement before the school, to prepare me to attend.
- Great teaching tools with the large visual aids and PowerPoint.
- The information was presented wonderfully! I learned so much from the hands-on activities, I plan on investigating to bring some of these activities into my school.
- Preprogram information and assistance for us coming from overseas was excellent! AJay provided us with equipment difficult to transport and picked us up at the Des Moines airport.
Team Building
- First day's program was great! Probably mainly because of the expertise and personality of the program's leaders, especially AJay. The attitudes of the participants was definitely "proactive."
- This helped us over the initial reticence and helped us quickly appreciate our diverse and accomplished group.
- Followed a good plan of attack, making everyone comfortable, learning what we would be doing, learning about others.
- I liked that you started off with team building – adults aren't always as open as kids, so you did some nice ice breakers.
GPS/Compass, Maps, Orienteering
- I loved the lesson on the compass and then going out to find the flags.
- Christy did a super job with this most important part of a wilderness experience … finding our way.
- I really enjoyed learning the compass activity. I knew the basics of compasses, but using the Fred, Red, Shed phrase and degrees was fun.
- Liked these activities. Able to apply these to the classroom easily. Students love technology so the GPS was great. Anything you can do to relate technology to the outdoors is great.
Stream Table
- Stream table is great! A valuable and interesting resource. AJay, you did a great job!
- Stream table activities were eye opening in a way lectures/words could never be. Perfect this preceded the canoeing, where we actually saw what you talked about.
- Going to try and make stream table for school after this activity.
- Stream table was very interesting. Would be interesting to do with many of my students who want to enjoy sensory aspect of sand/water feel
VanHorn Trophy Room
- Mr. VanHorn was generous to share his experience and memories along with his collection. I appreciated "the rest of the story" – the information about how some species are actually overpopulated, is something the media doesn't always share with the public.
- I was in awe of all the animals we saw in his home. His explanations of why permits were available to hunt these animals and what the permit money was used for helped me enjoy what I was seeing.
- Mr. VanHorn's take on the environment, conservation and overpopulated species was eye opening. I did not realize there were parts of Africa that were over populated with elephants. I also learned that badgers are prevalent in some parts of Iowa, and that his mounts of badgers were trapped.
- I can't believe how knowledgeable Mr. VanHorn was. Great pictures to use at school.
Canoeing
- Very well planned out canoe trip, from the supplies we needed (or didn't need), the meals, and the schedule.
- Was fantastic!
- Canoe trip was the highlight of the week. It was 24 hours of real immersion, a chance to use and hone the skills learned in the Wilderness Leadership School.
- Assembly line was good, we moved a lot of equipment in short time.
- Canoeing was so much fun! The food that we cooked and ate was great! It was a wonderful trip – my first time ever camping on a sandbar.
Fly Tying/Casting
- Excellent teachers
- The passion of both "Fly Tyers" was soon evident! It must be hard to teach such a large group and still be using a kind tone of voice at the end of the lesson; they were very patient with the casting practice and fishing too.
- Keith's style of teaching is relaxing and yet people huddled around him and listened to every word. AWLS is fortunate to have him. Keith and Dale were patient to the point of insanity when helping us to learn to cast. Bravo!
- Fly tying instruction awesome. Something I am going to use. Learning to fly fish was … It has made me believe that anything can be used in my classroom.
Water Works Park, Botanical Center
- This was the day I was NOT looking forward to. My attitude changed totally about 10 minutes after our first stop at the Water Works. I know I learned more on this day than any of the others.
- I learned a lot about good and bad things to have in water supply. I think every school should send students to visit their water treatment/water works plant. Ties in with water conservation/water quality studies.
- I have been to several water treatment/water works plants, but this was the best TOUR I ever been on.
- Too short! Botanical Center tour guides did a great job.
- Peaceful and relaxing.
Blank Park Zoo, Bird Banding
- I hadn't been aware of how much good in the world of animals zoos are doing! Awesome!
- Learned so much about the zoo and the care of the animals. Plan on trying a worm farm.
- Bird banding was fantastic! Truly an awesome experience. AJay does an outstanding lesson on bird banding.
- As I stated publicly, the bird banding demo and presentation is the best presentation of any kind, that I have ever seen anywhere, at any time.
- Bird banding is a favorite. Bringing nature into the classroom, really personalizes or brings home the importance we have in being responsible for the environment.
Archery/Air Rifles/Shotguns
- Again the presentation and equipment provided allowed me to gain the skill, and shows how easy to teach the children.
- This was the first time I have shot a gun of any nature. WOW – what an experience. It amazes me how much I have heard about, but being exposed to it all has opened my eyes even more.
- Fun! Fun! Fun! There is a decent chance that I may bet archery in my school.
- Interested in the air rifles. Probably a safer approach in the schools – at least put administrators at ease.
Participant Activities, Facilities, Etc.
- Beyond my expectations! Great!
- Everything was great! Everyone was friendly and knowledgeable – I learned a lot!
- Great idea to share activities, such a wealth of knowledge around us. AJay, this staff is one in a million. The patience, knowledge and respect you showed to all of us is phenomenal. You've got a great thing going here and we will pass it on.
- Thank you for such an amazing week of these experiences !!!