Kindergarten Camp
Kids visit Best Friends and take
home some very important lessons
about caring for animals

Teen Camp
The Best Friends Experience, a
new summer camp for teens

At Ease, 9th Graders

Sixty-eight ninth graders started off their school year with a group trip to Best Friends.

And at an age when there's so much insecurity, so much to worry about, what could help kids bond and get over their high school jitters better than - you guessed it - animals!

That's been the philosophy of Rowland Hall, St. Mark's in Salt Lake City for the past nine years. Every ninth grader is invited to attend a two-day, three-night outing of camping in tents, taking their school lessons in the great outdoors, and helping out with the animals.

Seven of their teachers came along to give them lessons in natural science, compass reading, art, and more. The young people worked on trails, picked up after horses, petted cats, and got to meet the owls and hawks at Wild Friends. But what did the youths think was best about the trip?

"There are girls."

"No," argued the girl working beside him at a picnic table. "There are boys. That's the best part. There are boys."

Other than that disagreement, they all seemed to get along just fine! Some of them had been at St. Mark's for years, but many were new in 9th grade, and even they seemed to be getting along well. "This is great for meeting the new people," said one young woman. "This is a good chance for them to bond and feel better about being new."

After their experience with the animals, Molly Jones and Morgan Zimmerman said they want to work on the No More Homeless Pets campaign in Utah when they get home. "We just learned about that," they said. "It sounds like so much fun. We'll do it together!"

"And this is a great chance for us as teachers to really get to know the kids we're going to work with all year," says their history teacher, Dorothy Harrington. "And there are always one or two who really love it here and wind up coming back, as well as some who decide to do volunteer service later in their lives."