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“Look carefully and tell me what you see, but don’t use the common name for it.” I hand fifth grade students from a local school some objects that I have gathered from the forest floor. The eager voices shout out the words you would expect. Leaf. Pinecone. “Those are good answers but now look carefully and try to describe it in more detail.” Oak, sourwood, black locust. Yes, they are all leaves, but they are all so different. Is this a compound leaf, or a simple leaf? How do you know? What do you see? How do you describe the shape? Later, one of them will tell me that he found a black locust leaf. This particular fact is probably not a fifth-grade science standard, but I realize that this young person is paying attention, and it makes me smile. Later in the day, when he shows me a katydid, I’m not at all surprised when he tells me how the wings look just like a leaf. “Look, the veins on his wings look just like the veins on a leaf!” Being with young people who have their eyes open to the natural world is the best part of the Jocassee Wild Child program.

~Steve Lewis, JLT guide and JWC instructor