An appreciation for nature and the outdoors is not something we’re always born with – especially in a technologically driven world. When I was younger, the idea of going outside on a warm summer’s day made me feel sick to my stomach. My idea of fun was watching Disney Channel for hours on end and playing my Gameboy. (The blistering hot summers in Houston also didn’t help convince me to venture outside). 
I was always encouraged to play outside and create adventures of my own, but for some reason I wasn’t excited by the world outside. My mother enrolled me in summer camp, along with my sister, when I was nine to encourage me to get outside. My sister and I were both so miserable with the outdoor environment at camp that we begged our camp counselor to let us go home after two days. Despite my family’s best efforts, I hated the outdoors. It wasn’t until my college years that I realized that life is not meant to be lived inside. And just like that, my eyes were open to the great outdoors.
My sophomore year of college I decided to switch my major to Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Sciences because they had a Youth Development focus and I knew I wanted to work with children. My major ended up having an intense focus on national, state, and local parks. In the process of studying them and having to visit them, I fell in love with all that went into preserving our natural environments.
As time went on I was taking every free Saturday I could to spend time at my local park to go running, hiking, or just sit in a peaceful environment free of the city noise. Fast forward to graduation and getting married, going to parks became my absolute happy place. Early in my marriage, going to national parks became something that my husband and I really bonded over. After many trips to different states, my husband and I made a visit to Assateague Island National Seashore when it finally dawned on us to invest in a national parks passport book so that we could document all of adventures together. With any available time in our calendar we plan trips to a national park. Just last October we made a weekend trip to Big Bend and I saw the night sky like I’ve never seen it before.
Now, here I am working as the Outdoor Liaison for Camp El Tesoro, getting to experience the joy of camp like I never did as a child. It blows my mind that I get to go out to camp and call it my job. If you happen to be a parent that thinks their child will never venture out to see all this world has to offer, I want to reassure you that with time their appreciation can grow. If you don’t currently love the outdoors, start by visiting your local park. I’m sure you’ll find something new to enjoy. An appreciation for nature and the outdoors is not something we’re always born with, it is something, however, that we can attain by opening our schedule to new experiences.
Cortney Dykes is the outdoor liaison at Camp Fire First Texas. Before coming to Camp Fire, Cortney served as an educational technician at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Child Development Center in Maryland. She is passionate about her work with Camp Fire because she believes camps have a positive impact on a child’s development. Cortney has a degree in parks, recreation, and tourism sciences with a focus in youth development from Texas A&M University.
