TAZEWELL COUNTY, Va. (WVVA) -Southwest Virginia Community College’s ‘Adventure Ready Camp’ teaches many of the skills needed to survive in the wilderness, from learning how to start a campfire to navigating the land with a map and compass. But the organizer for the camp says the skills learned here go beyond survival situations.

“…and it’s not necessarily the idea of doing survivor or survival. It’s more of… it’s given me the chance to where I can enjoy what’s around me because there’s a lot in this region available that sometimes people don’t see,” says Michael Brown, an associate professor at SWCC.

Kids aged nine through thirteen could learn a variety of wilderness skills and ways to have fun in the great outdoors. But this camp also benefits those outside that age group, with this camp being led by students in the college’s Environmental Management and Forest Ecology Program.

Ryan Lamb, one of these student-counselors says leading this camp is both a way to fulfil a class requirement and an opportunity to share his passion for the outdoors and his field of study.

“…I think it’s a wonderful program. I think that all the teachers that I’ve had so far have been amazing, and they really want to help you out and make sure you succeed,” says Lamb.

The camp also had a visit from someone who works at a state park who told the kids about the many opportunities available to them if they choose to make a career out of this program. Brown hopes holding the camp for this age group will inspire the kids to pursue their passion for the outdoors and potentially become the program’s next generation.

“Some of them actually get excited about the outdoors even more afterwards, so hopefully by the time they get to high school level and college level age group, then they’ve got that spark going really big, to where it’s like, ‘hey, I want to go into this program.’ And that’s kind of where that fits in,” says Brown.

Brown adds, he hopes these kids will share what they learned with their parents, making the fun to be had outdoors into a family activity.

If you would like to find out more information about the adventure ready camp, Brown says you can go to the Southwest Virginia Community College website.

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