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Commitment
After the 1-week Leadership Training, you share your skills for 1-weeks during the summer either as a Student Leader at our Summer Day Camps for ages 4-5.
Orientation Week
Our jLIT Overnight Orientation allows jLIT's to cross-train in all the guilds. Target archery, foam arrow games, role playing, gardening and wild plants safety, arts and crafts, and fishing are only a few activities that they can participate in throughout the week. They also receive training in building rapport with campers and staff, keeping kids safe and traveling in groups as a role model.
One day during the orientation week is spent in Portland where they have the opportunity to observe, interact with and remember what it's like to be a 4-5 year old. They get to know the SE Portland location and nearby Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge where they spend most of the field training week.
Field Training Week
Our jLIT Training week occurs during one week of your summer. Lead and Assistant Instructors will guide you through the week, encouraging you to express your inner playful leader while helping you to become more aware of safety in and outside the classroom. Be ready for adventure!
Feedback to Grow By
Throughout the week, our Lead Instructors offer support to our jLIT's by providing them with opportunities to ask questions, giving them constructive and positive feedback, as well as setting clear expectations. On the Thursday of each week, the Lead Instructor sits down with each jLIT and both express their overall experience in camp that week. jLIT's will be encouraged to share their favorite and most challenging parts of the camp experience, as well as what they learned about working with people younger than themselves.
The Four Guilds
Story is at the heart of all great education and adventure. We believe our lives on this Earth can be epic in both play and learning. All of Trackers camps, classes and productions can also be seen as great theater. Throughout our adventures you get to take part in one or more of our guilds: Rangers, Wilders, Mariners and Artisans.
Rangers Guild
The Rangers Guild are the scouts of the forest. Students train in stealth, tracking, and wilderness survival skills. If you ever loved the books My Side of the Mountain or Lord of the Rings the Rangers Guild is where you want to be.
Rangers may build a shelter, learn to carve wood, safely make fire with no matches, craft simple bows, or play fun stealth games to build outdoor fitness. They can loose an arrow with keen aim and steady eye.
Rangers are also master naturalists. They know the language and sign of all birds, beasts, and plants that live in wild.
Wilders Guild
Named in honor of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Wilders Guild offers homesteading activities. Students could make cheese from farm fresh goats milk to bring home or press apples in the cider press while dancing to fine fiddle music.
You may find a Wilder starting seedlings for planting in family gardens or even working on fiber arts projects.
They make pickles and preserves, help cook nourishing meals over a fire, weave baskets, spin, knit, use plant dyes and other natural materials for coloring fabric. Through their thoughtful care of the forests and the meadows, the Wilders bring balance cultivation and care of the natural world.
Mariners Guild
The Mariners Guild trains us in the skills of the water and sea. Mariners may study water ecology to learn about aquatic creatures. They could tie knots and even partake in artistic knot work.
In the Mariner's wood shop, we may build a canoe or other traditional skin on frame boat. Most importantly, the Mariners Guild goes fishing and kayaking! While they may not guarantee a catch, Mariners always have a good time sitting by the shore and casting. With the Mariners Guild, you can count coming home with a safe adventure on the water and a tall tale about the "big one that got away."
Artisans Guild
The Artisans Guild encompasses a diverse range of storytellers and craftspeople. Instructors trained in the dramatic arts teach theater improv games that build confidence, creativity, and teamwork.
Artisans also share their stories through craft and art: From safe and successful metal working projects for younger students to more challenging blacksmithing techniques for older students. The Artisans also express their own story through painting and other art media; they create beautiful and useful things with their leatherworking and woodcraft projects. Through their craft, stories, and incredible adventures, the Artisans will take you on an unforgettable journey.