| Seasonal Newsletter Learn more at: www.inwarddiscovery.org Help Youth Discover Themselves Outdoors Donate Here Let's InDiGO Young people have an innate and natural desire to learn, power to heal, and drive to discover. InDiGO's work is as much about giving youth opportunities to experience Nature outdoors in parks, schoolyards, and backyards as it is about guiding youth to access the power of Nature within themselves. Nurture Your Nature. Be the Star You Are. With InDiGO, youth are not only shining, they are seeing the stars! Read on to discover the incredible summer we had. InDiGO programs guide youth to access and develop their own identity, relationships, values, gifts, voice, vision, and leadership. InDiGO views education as the principal lever of long-term change that will, as our mission states, guide youth and adults to access and develop their own inner power to learn, teach, heal, and unite by discovering the wonders of nature within and all around us. InDiGO joins global and local movements to reform public education around child-centered principles that promote well-being and wholeness. Some of our core questions include the following: Who am I? What am I? Where am I? Where does my food come from? Where does my water come from? How do I create healthy relationships with myself, others, and the Earth? Summer Adventure Camp 2022 Transportation and tuition are significant barriers to accessing outdoor experiences. This problem pervades nearly all cities (see this article about Toronto, for example, https://thelocal.to/the-great-surprisingly-expensive-outdoors/). Many youth from Baltimore City do not have access to enriching summer experiences outdoors, especially outside the city. This summer, InDiGO provided tuition and transportation for 40 youth from West Baltimore to attend Adventure Camp at Pearlstone in Reisterstown, MD, for one, two, or three weeks. Additionally, five InDiGO youth ambassadors who attended day camp last summer participated in their first overnight camp experience for eight days. We can all benefit so much from reconnecting to the land and Nature. Hazon and Pearlstone are true leaders in the Nature-connection movement in the Baltimore area and nationally. Camp is one of the most healing and enriching experiences we can offer our young people. Thank you to all the youth, their families, teachers, and Pearlstone for curating the kind of learning environment we envision for all children. InDiGO's Youth Ambassadors of Summer 2022 Representing a part of Baltimore with little access to experiences outside the city, these five brave youth reached across cultural and economic barriers to attend eight days of overnight camp! They taught, learned from, and developed connections with youth from different backgrounds across the region. In addition to connecting with themselves, each other, and the Earth, they learned to make fire, find edible plants, build a survival shelter, pick, prep, and cook food from the farm, and much more! We are so proud of our 5 overnight campers completing 8 days of overnight camp. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids Summer Camp 2022 After an incredible school year at OrchKids, InDiGO rocked the summer at OrchKids summer camp. OrchKids is a model for the city in providing free transportation to the beautiful campus of Goucher College. Thank you, OrchKids and Goucher, for providing an ideal environment for InDiGO to illuminate the innate connections between young people, music, and Nature. What is the oldest instrument in the world? Humans learned to make sounds and music by imitating Nature. We have evolved to create masterpieces. InDiGO follows the evolutionary progression of music in our work with OrchKids as we develop our ability to express ourselves authentically. We begin with the oldest instruments in the world: body percussion and our own voices. We then add drums, violins, trumpets, harps, and all the other instruments OrchKids provides for Baltimore City students. Ground Control Owings Mills Summer Campers Some of you may know that we have a passion for martial arts. We acknowledge the common core of all martial arts: to increase our capacity for compassion and peacemaking under stress, tension, or conflict. In short, martial arts are best for healing and de-escalation. Nature is the original martial arts teacher. We learn from the movements of animals, from the movement of water, sticks, and more! InDiGO guided Ground Control Owings Mills' Youth Summer Campers for four Fridays this summer. We played team building games, practiced awareness and survival skills, faced our fears on the high ropes course, and connected with water on the creek walk. Piedmont Learning Center At Piedmont Learning Center , you'll discover a hidden sanctuary within the city. Founder Steve Kopelman, partners with Mentoring Mentors to provide after-school and summer programming that gives West Baltimore teenagers a wealth of experiences, including but not limited to: Nature Education Gardening, Harvesting, and Cooking Music, Art, and Self-Expression Yoga and Mindfulness Leadership and Team-building InDiGO led a musical improvisation, authentic self-expression DJ game session followed by a silent Nature walk. Through music, we connect with our internal rhythm, our heartbeat. We connect by making eye contact and actively listening. In the DJ game, we introduce rhythms from around the world as a doorway to intercultural bridge building. We also create a space for youth to express their own rhythms and songs authentically. The DJ develops leadership skills, conducting the entire group. A silent walk in the forest allows us to connect and reflect internally while allowing us to encounter more wildlife. Using their newly acquired fox-walking skills, the students in front with silent feet got close to a deer. Remembering their lesson in wide-angle vision, they did not look directly at it. It was not until another student approached and looked directly at the deer that it ran away. The students shared their findings about themselves and the forest before transitioning to their next fantastic activity. We are grateful for every organization worldwide giving children opportunities to shine. Thank you, Piedmont Learning Center and Mentoring Mentors! Baltimore Connecting Children To Nature (BCCN) In Baltimore City, InDiGO works on every level in concert with youth, teachers, school district officials, government agencies, outdoor centers, and community organizations. Creating healthy learning environments in schools, teaching in well-designed outdoor classrooms, and increasing access to healing-centered experiences in the great outdoors has never been more important for a generation of children. We work for systems change that increases protections for all children from harmful pollution or violence by any person or industry. We advocate for universal access to outdoor classrooms, gardens, playgrounds, and field trips. Thank you for all the work of the BCCN to help us create a Baltimore where all children are guaranteed the following rights: Help Youth Discover Themselves Outdoors Donate Here Connect with us |
Help Youth Discover Themselves Outdoors | |
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Young people have an innate and natural desire to learn, power to heal, and drive to discover. InDiGO's work is as much about giving youth opportunities to experience Nature outdoors in parks, schoolyards, and backyards as it is about guiding youth to access the power of Nature within themselves. | |
Nurture Your Nature. Be the Star You Are. | |
With InDiGO, youth are not only shining, they are seeing the stars! Read on to discover the incredible summer we had. | |
InDiGO programs guide youth to access and develop their own identity, relationships, values, gifts, voice, vision, and leadership. | |
|
|
InDiGO views education as the principal lever of long-term change that will, as our mission states, guide youth and adults to access and develop their own inner power to learn, teach, heal, and unite by discovering the wonders of nature within and all around us.
InDiGO joins global and local movements to reform public education around child-centered principles that promote well-being and wholeness.
Some of our core questions include the following:
Who am I?
What am I?
Where am I?
Where does my food come from?
Where does my water come from?
How do I create healthy relationships with myself, others, and the Earth?
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Summer Adventure Camp 2022
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Transportation and tuition are significant barriers to accessing outdoor experiences. This problem pervades nearly all cities (see this article about Toronto, for example, https://thelocal.to/the-great-surprisingly-expensive-outdoors/).
Many youth from Baltimore City do not have access to enriching summer experiences outdoors, especially outside the city. This summer, InDiGO provided tuition and transportation for 40 youth from West Baltimore to attend Adventure Camp at Pearlstone in Reisterstown, MD, for one, two, or three weeks. Additionally, five InDiGO youth ambassadors who attended day camp last summer participated in their first overnight camp experience for eight days.
We can all benefit so much from reconnecting to the land and Nature. Hazon and Pearlstone are true leaders in the Nature-connection movement in the Baltimore area and nationally. Camp is one of the most healing and enriching experiences we can offer our young people. Thank you to all the youth, their families, teachers, and Pearlstone for curating the kind of learning environment we envision for all children.
| |
|
|
InDiGO's Youth Ambassadors of Summer 2022 | |
Representing a part of Baltimore with little access to experiences outside the city, these five brave youth reached across cultural and economic barriers to attend eight days of overnight camp! They taught, learned from, and developed connections with youth from different backgrounds across the region. | |
In addition to connecting with themselves, each other, and the Earth, they learned to make fire, find edible plants, build a survival shelter, pick, prep, and cook food from the farm, and much more! We are so proud of our 5 overnight campers completing 8 days of overnight camp. | |
|
|
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids Summer Camp 2022 | |
After an incredible school year at OrchKids, InDiGO rocked the summer at OrchKids summer camp. OrchKids is a model for the city in providing free transportation to the beautiful campus of Goucher College. Thank you, OrchKids and Goucher, for providing an ideal environment for InDiGO to illuminate the innate connections between young people, music, and Nature. | |
What is the oldest instrument in the world? Humans learned to make sounds and music by imitating Nature. We have evolved to create masterpieces. InDiGO follows the evolutionary progression of music in our work with OrchKids as we develop our ability to express ourselves authentically. We begin with the oldest instruments in the world: body percussion and our own voices. We then add drums, violins, trumpets, harps, and all the other instruments OrchKids provides for Baltimore City students. | |
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Ground Control Owings Mills Summer Campers | |
Some of you may know that we have a passion for martial arts. We acknowledge the common core of all martial arts: to increase our capacity for compassion and peacemaking under stress, tension, or conflict. In short, martial arts are best for healing and de-escalation. Nature is the original martial arts teacher. We learn from the movements of animals, from the movement of water, sticks, and more!
InDiGO guided Ground Control Owings Mills' Youth Summer Campers for four Fridays this summer. We played team building games, practiced awareness and survival skills, faced our fears on the high ropes course, and connected with water on the creek walk.
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|
|
At Piedmont Learning Center, you'll discover a hidden sanctuary within the city. Founder Steve Kopelman, partners with Mentoring Mentors to provide after-school and summer programming that gives West Baltimore teenagers a wealth of experiences, including but not limited to: | |
Nature Education
Gardening, Harvesting, and Cooking
Music, Art, and Self-Expression
Yoga and Mindfulness
Leadership and Team-building
| |
InDiGO led a musical improvisation, authentic self-expression DJ game session followed by a silent Nature walk. Through music, we connect with our internal rhythm, our heartbeat. We connect by making eye contact and actively listening. In the DJ game, we introduce rhythms from around the world as a doorway to intercultural bridge building. We also create a space for youth to express their own rhythms and songs authentically. The DJ develops leadership skills, conducting the entire group.
A silent walk in the forest allows us to connect and reflect internally while allowing us to encounter more wildlife.
Using their newly acquired fox-walking skills, the students in front with silent feet got close to a deer. Remembering their lesson in wide-angle vision, they did not look directly at it. It was not until another student approached and looked directly at the deer that it ran away. The students shared their findings about themselves and the forest before transitioning to their next fantastic activity.
We are grateful for every organization worldwide giving children opportunities to shine. Thank you, Piedmont Learning Center and Mentoring Mentors!
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Baltimore Connecting Children To Nature (BCCN) | |
In Baltimore City, InDiGO works on every level in concert with youth, teachers, school district officials, government agencies, outdoor centers, and community organizations.
Creating healthy learning environments in schools, teaching in well-designed outdoor classrooms, and increasing access to healing-centered experiences in the great outdoors has never been more important for a generation of children.
We work for systems change that increases protections for all children from harmful pollution or violence by any person or industry. We advocate for universal access to outdoor classrooms, gardens, playgrounds, and field trips.
Thank you for all the work of the BCCN to help us create a Baltimore where all children are guaranteed the following rights:
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Help Youth Discover Themselves Outdoors | |
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