By ERKIN ESENGELDIEV
Staff Writer
A few weeks ago I applied to be a counselor at an outdoor school of science and conservation – Scicon. Most of you probably know what it is already and stayed there as a 6th-grade student; some of you remember how fun and exciting it was, and some would rather not talk about it. But it has been a really good opportunity for me, as an exchange student, to experience being in the American wilderness without phones, laptops, and the internet, get to know 6th-graders and watch over them, and find out more about nature and all the ways to preserve it.
Anyways, on October 24, we arrived at Scicon, Springville. First, we got to meet staff members of the school, who were very nice to us and organized a briefing when they went over what we needed to do as counselors. Then we were assigned our cabins and introduced to the students we needed to keep an eye on. All of the cabins were named after towns and cities in Tulare County, and I was ruling the Ivanhoe cabin. My group of students consisted of 8 boys, all energetic and disciplined, I was happy to counsel them.
The week went by like a flash, every day we went on little hikes and learned about the environment with students, sang songs, and played fun games. By the end of it, all the counselors and their students cried, not wanting the good memories to end.
It was an amazing experience, and I would do it again.