Partners in the Parks: Field Guide to an Experiential Program in the National Parks. National Collegiate Honors Council Monograph Series
Author: Digby, Joan
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Collected Works - General
Subjects: Honors Curriculum,Parks,Experiential Learning,Partnerships in Education,College Programs,Recreational Activities,Outdoor Education

The aim of Partners in the Parks (PITP) from its inception has been to introduce, or reintroduce, collegiate honors students to this country: not the transformed environment that we have constructed on its surface but the bedrock world upon which it rests. Like de Toqueville, Jefferson, Thoreau, Emerson, and so many others, these authors recognized that the unique place that is America cannot be separated from the land upon which it was built. One valuable way to study and understand it, then, is to visit places where the bones of America lie exposed, often without the veneer of civilization, cultivation, or modernization: places protected by the people to preserve for this and future generations, original American landscapes, and important historical landmarks that illustrate and define what America was, is, and can be. While recognizing the importance of a global perspective in an overall honors education, the goal is to help students see and understand America before or in addition to going abroad. Indeed, for students without the desire or resources to leave the country, PITP offers many of the same kinds of personal development that make study abroad so valuable. Students waking in a tent, hours from the nearest road, and thrusting their heads from the zippered door into frosty air filled with snow--that is experiential learning that teaches and inspires. Directly observing trees and cliffs and sky, and communicating with each other from mouth-to-ear and back again--that is experiencing. being, and learning. Following a foreword by Matt Nickerson, the table of contents presents the following: Chapter 1: Origin of Species. Field Notes: &quot;A Delicate Balance&quot; (Rebecca Cole-Will); Chapter 2: Scouting Parties. Field Notes: &quot;Growing From Within&quot; (Bill Atwill and Kathleen King); Chapter 3: Think Camping is a Getaway? Field Notes: &quot;A Theme Runs Through It&quot; (Heather Thiessen-Reily); Chapter 4: Ducks in a Row. Field Notes: &quot;Thinking with a Photographer's Eye&quot; (Joan Digby) and &quot;Encountering a Bear at Bryce Canyon&quot; (Rony Enriquez); Chapter 5: Group Soup. Field Notes: &quot;Sitting There in Silence&quot; (Andy Grube); Chapter 6: To Boldly Go... &quot;Partners in the Parks and the Wilderness Aesthetic&quot; (Joy Ochs) and &quot;My Incredible Journey to Zion National Park&quot; (Angela Calise); Chapter 7: Nature as Text--Text as Text--Self as Text. Field Notes: &quot;Philosophy in the Parks&quot; (Greg Fahy); Chapter 8: Creature Discomforts. Field Notes: &quot;Water Rights&quot; (Pavel Goriacko) and &quot;Time Management and the Experience of Partners&quot; (Sarah L. Fann); Chapter 9: Hosts and Guests. Field Notes: &quot;My Experience as Guest and Host&quot; (Elizabeth O'Donnell) and &quot;Field Notes from a Coordinator&quot; (Kathleen King); Chapter 10: City Slickers. Field Notes: &quot;Circles&quot; (James Clarke); Chapter 11: May the Circle Be Unbroken. Field Notes: &quot;Denali 2010&quot; (C. P. Price); Chapter 12: Sharing the Experience. Field Notes: &quot;Some Sample Assessment Models.&quot; The following are appended: (1) Partners in the Parks Best Practices Manual; (2) Equipment; (3) Sample Project Proposal, Letter and Application for Academic Park Fee Waiver, Program Agenda; (4) Generic Application, Insurance and Release Forms and Comportment Agreement; (5) Sample Budget; (6) Sample Brochure and Fliers; (7) Key to Animal Tracks in the Field Notes. [This monograph was written with Bill Atwill, Angela Calise, James Clarke, Rebecca Cole-Will, Rony Enriquez, Greg Fahy, Sarah L. Fann, Pavel Goriacko, Andy Grube, Kathleen King, Matt Nickerson, Joy Ochs, Elizabeth O'Donnell, C. P. Price, and Heather Thiessen-Reily.]