WHITEHOUSE, Texas /CitizenWire/ — Camp Tyler Outdoor School (CTOS) is located in East Texas on the shores of Lake Tyler. Camp Tyler has over 300 acres of forest, meadows, and prairies with ponds, lake front, and facilities to host day-only or multi-day overnight academic programs for private and public schools. Camp Tyler is also a great venue for weddings, family reunions, celebrations, church camps, corporate retreats, conferences, and special focus and special needs groups on weekends or during summer.
“Camp Tyler has been a field-trip destination for students to learn science, Texas history, and important life skills since 1949,” said Tracy Walker, Program Director for CTOS.
“Research has shown classrooms without walls provide many developmental and learning benefits,” said Walker.
A recent study in Frontiers in Psychology found exposure to hands-on outdoor academic programs increased students’ intrinsic motivational behavior. Specifically, feelings of competence, autonomy, and connection with teachers and the natural world increased relative to traditional indoor settings. Other known benefits of outdoor learning environments include improved overall health, interpersonal skills, self-reliance and confidence, and recollection and understanding of subject matter.
Camp Tyler offers a large suite of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) aligned and customizable programs to meet almost any academic need.
“Teaching at CTOS is framed around research-based concepts to inspire curiosity and critical thinking through student-led and nature-centered programs. The goal is to improve observation skills, access the power of autonomous discovery, and emphasize basic life-skill principles of communication, cooperation, caring, and commitment,” said Walker.
Multi-purpose facilities at CTOS include a beautiful lakefront lodge (a 1,940 sq ft event and dining hall with full kitchen), dorm-style cabins, picnic sites, primitive camping areas, a pavilion, an outdoor team-building challenge course, and a zip line. Summer and weekend event activities include canoeing, fishing, and swimming in Lake Tyler, hiking trails, a farm, a team-building challenge course, archery, campfire circles, and a gun range.
Developmental opportunities for children and adults provided by CTOS came to a screeching halt last spring courtesy of COVID-19. For the first time since 1949, the woods and meadows at Camp Tyler fell silent of human activity. No shrieks of excitement upon discovery of an empty turtle shell while wandering and wondering along a wooded trail. No squeals of delight and surprise when a goat’s tongue feathered food off the palm of a child’s hand. Celebrations of victory when a group fused together as a team to overcome a team-building outdoor challenge were replaced with solitude.
“We’re seeing the beginning of the end of COVID-19, and the woods and meadows of CTOS would once again welcome those wonderful sounds of discovery, excitement, learning, and joy,” said Walker.
ABOUT CAMP TYLER OUTDOOR SCHOOL:
Located in Whitehouse, Texas, Camp Tyler Outdoor School is a non-profit organization dependent on donations and program costs for operation.
For more information about CTOS’s academic-based programs or facility rental, contact Tracy Walker at 903-565-4475, email program@camptyler.org, or visit https://camptyler.org/.
Learn More: https://camptyler.org/
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