CINCINNATI — As winter drags on, it’s easy to forget about spending time in nature, and screen time can easily escalate.
But, one Cincinnati-area nonprofit is preparing students for their next wilderness adventure all year long.
If Trace Dunning had his way, he’d be outside.
"Going out in the woods can solve a lot of problems, at least for me it has," he said.
But during these winter months he brings the outdoors inside, teaching the next generation wilderness skills.
"I went to University of Cincinnati and kinda struggled finding outdoor spaces and doing outdoor things while in the city," he said.
Dunning is the director of the Urban Wilderness Program. For about 10 years the program has partnered with Cincinnati schools to give students of all backgrounds access to hands-on learning — like boat building — with opportunities and even scholarships for summer camps up north.
"We're in about 25 different schools in the Cincinnati area. And then we're also in Minneapolis, Chicago, South Carolina, Oklahoma. And so we're starting to get bigger and bigger," he said.
WCPO caught up with Dunning and his fellow instructors at Covington Catholic High School as they built a canoe from the ground up.
Their science teacher, Colleen Epperson says learning by doing is the best classroom.
"Woodworking went out in the 80s and 90s so kids don't get to use their hands," she said.
In a increasingly digital world where teens, especially those in urban settings, spend most of their free time on smart phones and screens instructors hope getting kids out in a more hands-on capacity can help.
According to the latest data from Nielsen, teenagers spend more than seven hours per day in front of screens which can cause anxiety, even depression.
Silas Fulton learned these very skills as a high school student and now works for the program, touting the importance of nature and mental health.
"Being outdoors for me personally, made me feel more energetic. I was getting up early with like no alarm," Fulton said. "When the sun would rise I would get up kind of like full body reset. Get away from all the advanced technology that we have today."
Fulton says demystifying the great outdoor and disconnecting from technology is an experience he wants to share.
"It's such like a key experience in my life. I would love everybody to try and get outdoors getting a canoe get on the water. It's not for everybody, but I know it's for me."
