Middle School Programs
NKJN programming at Angevine Middle School is mostly opt-in and relies on students that participate in for-credit classes and after school clubs to engage their peers to ensure that all students have the opportunity to continue to acquire nature and outdoor recreation knowledge, skill, and experience.
FOR CREDIT CLASSES
Angevine Middle School – Outdoor Education Elective
Sixth and seventh-grade students who enroll in Angevine’s Outdoor Education elective class engage in a variety of hands-on experiences closely tied to state science standards that allow them to explore local natural areas and learn high-interest outdoor skills. The for-credit class integrates local stream ecology, land-use issues, and survival skills to engage students in connecting with, and caring for, their local environment. The class provides 65 students a year with 140 hours of programming. The class includes peer-to-peer outreach to the greater student body of the school, including engaging peers in service projects.
Cottonwood Institute – Middle School Community Adventure Program
The Community Adventure Program (CAP) will provide 30 eighth graders each year with a 125-hour environmental education and service-learning class offered for academic credit during the school day and on weekends. During CAP, students go on hikes, overnight camping trips, learn about and discuss local environmental issues, choose an environmental issue to focus on as a class, and collaborate with other local organizations to design and implement a student-directed Action Project to positively address the issue they chose. Past CAP projects at other schools have included flood restoration projects, wildfire mitigation projects, bike to school days, food waste projects, and organic gardening and composting projects. CAP includes peer-to-peer outreach to the greater student body of the school, including engaging peers in service projects.
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
Cal-Wood Education Center – Teen Adventure Program
The Teen Adventure Club will serve 30 students. Through the program, youth will have access to nature/outdoor mentors and the opportunity to participate in nature-based and outdoor recreation experiences afterschool and on non-school days such as Saturdays, teacher conference days, holidays, and school breaks. The program is student-driven and emphasizes environmental stewardship, recreational opportunities, career exploration, and community service. This program is free of charge, and transportation, meals, and gear are provided. The Teen Adventure Program includes peer-to-peer outreach to the greater student body of the school, including inviting friends to join on outdoor adventures.
To sign up for this program, click here
EcoArts – Club Mestizo
Club Mestizo is a sustainability-focused afterschool, weekend, and summer arts program that specifically targets high-risk youth. For Club Mestizo, sustainability is defined as: environmental, economic, social/cultural, and personal sustainability – of which appreciation for, and care of, the natural world is a component. Club Mestizo will be expanding its existing program in collaboration with NKJN to include four nature/outdoors field trips, four nature/outdoor weekend art projects, and a nature/outdoor mural. The goal is to provide a hook, through art, at the middle school level to connect kids to nature and the outdoors who did not build that connection through NKJN’s elementary school programming. Through painting, dance, spoken word and other forms of art, Club Mestizo will help youth to enjoy, appreciate, and be comfortable in nature, even if nature and the outdoors activities is not something they would typically choose to participate in. The nature/outdoor weekend projects and nature/outdoor mural will take place at parks that are in close walking distance to Lafayette’s underserved neighborhoods, thereby helping to build participants’ connection and future increased visitation to these spaces. Participation in the various nature/outdoor programs will range from 25 to 75 youth and total to more than 1,000 participant program hours annually. Club Mestizo includes peer-to-peer outreach to the greater student body of the school, including inviting friends to participate in the weekend and mural projects.
To sign up for this program, email Marda Kern, Program Director.