Written by Senior Cottonwood Field Instructor, Amy Kopkin Atkins  

It is both intuitive and well known that spending time outdoors is a healthy anecdote to the mental and physical health issues that arise when one spends too much time on a screen.

It’s another thing to see it in action.

As Cottonwood CAP and field instructors, we get to see the positive transformation of time spent outdoors with teens who rarely, if ever, spend significant time climbing a mountain, sitting around a crackling campfire, or even taking in a sunset.

On a cloudy, cool February morning, it was our plan to take 12 Rise Up students into the outdoors for a little screen free living. We begin our trip by having students surrender their phones. As you can imagine, there was much complaining and gnashing of teeth. Anticipating this response, we resorted to bribing the students with donuts to turn their phones. Ultimately, the allure of a glazed confection won them over. They reluctantly parted with their phones into the dry bag, and we were off to Bear Creek Lake State Park.

Our time in the outdoors was spent understanding thermoregulation principles – outside heat source and internal metabolism. We built a fire using flint and steel, made homemade tortillas and carne asada for tacos, and cooked everything over the fire we built.

We also enjoyed the down time that being outdoors provides. We searched for the perfect stick for roasting marshmallows. We compared marshmallow roasting techniques to see which created the best s’more. We told stories of our childhood memories. At the end, we reflected on our time outside before we loaded the van. We talked about what we liked about the day, what we learned, and what will linger with us, long after we are back in the concrete jungle.

“I learned that I am happier when I’m not on a screen”, said one student during our debrief.

Well, there you have it.