SLO County Office of Education

The San Luis Obispo County Office of Education operates the Rancho El Chorro Outdoor Educational Campus that is tucked away in the hills above San Luis Obispo, directly across from the Cuesta College main campus. These 250 protected acres include a nature preserve, a school campus, a one-room school house, incredible learning resources, and a regional conference center. Nestled between San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay off of Highway One, the Rancho El Chorro facility affords some wonderful hiking trails along Pennington Creek, an oak woodland forest, a teaching pond, water reclamation instructional creek, classrooms, a Rotary amphitheater, and Yurt Villages. I commend our local, state, and national Rotary Clubs for their dedication to our community, our youth, and society through support of outdoor education.

The facility provides hands-on learning opportunities for students studying science and ecology in a natural setting. The San Luis Obispo County Office of Education has been providing outdoor education to the community for over 40 years. Nearly 300,000 students and 10,000 adults have enjoyed and b e n e fi t e d from the programs and facilities which w e r e previously par t of Camp San Luis Obispo.

Our outdoor education programs bring students closer to nature; teach about conservation, while providing fun and adventure. When students participate in outdoor education, their understanding of the environment and human communities grows. Stronger environmental attitudes, civic responsibility, and community participation strengthens through outdoor education. These types of schools are one tool in our tool belt for building a solid foundation of stewardship with the next generation of community leaders.

Outdoor education can connect families and the greater community with our schools. Many times when classrooms are outdoors, an entry point for involvement in education is presented. The first time my father became more involved with my schooling was in the late 1960s on an outdoor education field trip. Environmental education is also a promising strategy for helping students with e m o t i o n a l , cognitive, and behavioral challenges. O u t d o o r education has potential to combine time outdoors with instructional practices shown to be effective with multiple learning strategies. Students with both strengths and challenges benefit from outdoor education programs. The benefits of outdoor experiences have been explored through research on students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Kuo and Faber Taylor in particular have researched this topic and have found green space to be highly beneficial for students identified with ADHD.

Rancho el Chorro continues to remind me of a song heard playing on the radio when I was a young student. The song was a parody of a fictional Camp Granada, set to the tune of Ponchelli’s “Dance of the Hours.” This novelty song by Allan Sherman and Lou Busch is said to be based on letters Allan received from his son Robert who was away at camp. The name of the song originates from the first few lyrics. “Hello Muddah, hello Faddah. Here I am at Camp Granada. Camp is very entertaining. And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining.” Sherman’s lyrics go on to tell a comical story about campers gone missing or contracting deadly illnesses, fear of bears, and promises to let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss if allowed to come home. By the end of the song, the rain has stopped; the campers are swimming, sailing, and playing baseball. The camper asks his parents to “kindly disregard this letter.” The song has been translated into multiple languages and gained popularity globally because many cultures have some type of overnight camp serving as rite of passage for safe experiences away from the family. Benefits of an Outdoor Education Jim J. Brescia, Ed.D

Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. ~Walt Whitman