Letter - The value of experiencing nature

To the editor:

I recently volunteered to chaperone a field trip for the 6th grade students from Voyager Elementary School and Brandon/Evansville Elementary School. The field trip took place at Lake Carlos State Park and the theme was “Login to Lakes.” I want to say a huge thank you to the Minnesota DNR, MinnAqua, Viking Sportsmen, and the staff at Lake Carlos State Park. What an incredible event and experience for these students.

During this field trip each student was able to go out in a pontoon on Lake Carlos, go fishing, take part in a fish identification class, and learn how to use a GPS unit to go geocaching. Also, the Viking Sportsmen put on a fish fry for the students with fish purchased by the DNR.

The purpose of this field trip was to teach the students about our lakes and also to get them outside to enjoy and appreciate this wonderful area that we live in. Many kids do not get an opportunity to get out and experience what nature and our lakes have to offer.

I encourage everyone to take some time to get out and visit Lake Carlos State Park. We are so lucky to have this beautiful park in our community.

I hope that this field trip can become an annual event for all of the 6th grade students in District 206. Thank you again to everyone who made this event possible.

Jenny Odland

Alexandria, MN

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