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GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS | 2021– 2022 59 By CHERYL DURGANS B efore the Glen Helen’s Outdoor Education Center formally opened in 1956, over the course of two summers in 1955 and 1956, around 36 teenag - ers from all over the country descended on the Glen in a volunteer effort sponsored by the American Friends Services Committee and Antioch Col - lege to construct the center. According to a news article that was published in the summer of 1955, 13 high school boys and girls, from New York State to South Dakota, “spent their summer in Yellow Springs to make the Glen Helen dream of serving the needs of schools in this area as an outdoor laboratory come true.” Volunteers worked five days a week, doing every - thing from digging foundations for the school camp to working with a hammer and wreck - ing bar on Antioch barracks off South College Street in an effort to reuse materials on the ecocamp building. In 1956, the News reported that 23 teenag - ers spent 3,800 hours shingling the roof of their living quarters and utility center. They dug and laid the foundation block for two dormitories and the camp’s main lodge building, installed walks and expanded a parking lot, painted and put sash and window screens on the utility center. They were also able to frame and add a fireplace to one of the dormi - tories. Each volunteer paid a camp fee “for the privilege of working with each other in the building of the camp.” A professional construction company was able to capital - ize on the volunteer effort of the teenagers and finished the construction of the Center at the end of the summer in 1956. By fall of the same year, the Center had hosted its first group of sixth graders from Yellow Springs schools for overnight school camp. Through the initial volunteer effort of teenagers from across the nation over the course of two summers, thousands of sixth graders from all over the area continue to participate in the Glen’s Outdoor Education Center through its school camp programs. The camp continues to offer both day and over - night options for education, including school camp. These programs support outdoor edu - cation for school kids across the region. Over the years, the News has interviewed students who participated in the school camps, highlighting their experiences. This article was originally published in the Sept. 29, 1971, edition of the Yellow Springs News. School Camp Was Full of Fun and Learning, Kids Say Morgan Middle School’s sixth graders “lived it up” with outdoor fun and learn- ing at Glen Helen School Camp last week. What camp was like to them is revealed in their comments as they summed up their experience in a brief writing session Friday. Many just declared “Every- thing was fun!” Others made lists: • All-day hike. Bird blind. Night hike. I liked the slides that were shown also. • (1) Bird banding. “I liked the way Scott did things to the birds. I like letting the birds go, because I like to see how they fly. (2) Night hike. I like the noise the animals made. (3) Sleeping in the dorm. Having fun. (4) Steve (Kress, staff naturalist). Topping most of the lists was the night hike: “It was scary and fun.” “Exciting and dark.” “Our leader did owl calls (we fooled the other group with the owl calls.)” “I liked listening to the great horned owl and the little animals scurry around.” “I saw glowing mushrooms and glowing worms.” “No one was Pick-up day at Glen Helen Outdoor Education Center’s EcoCamp in 2013: counselors and campers stage skits, singalongs and talk about their experiences. The program has introduced generations of children to the natural world since 1974. | PHOTO BY MATT MINDE ECOCAMP Continued on page 60 TUES. & FRI. 12-7, SAT. 10-5 Closed Sun.–Mon. By appointment Wed. & Thurs. 937-484-3456 1-800-762-9802 www.bauerstovesandfireplaces.com We are now on Facebook. 3548 SR 54 • Urbana, OH 43078 Bauer Stoves and Fireplaces AmericA’s best! Be IndEpEndEnT, Go GREEn buy a Wood stoVe Your stove & insert Headquarters “America’s best place to buy stoves and fireplaces.”