Summer Camp in the Clouds: Place-Based Discovery on Mount Washington

By MWOBS Staff

Just because school is out during the summer, doesn’t mean learning about weather and climate on Mount Washington takes a break. One of the hallmarks and new additions to Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS)’s suite of summer programs is Storm Scouts: Extreme Weather Camp, where rising 4th to 8th graders can learn from and experience Mount Washington firsthand alongside Mount Washington Observatory staff.

This day camp, which concluded in August, returned for a second year in partnership with Conway School District’s Project SUCCEED with resounding success: Two separate week-long sessions welcomed 22 youth both regionally and nationwide to explore the wonder of weather on Mount Washington with excursions from the MWOBS base camp in North Conway, NH.

At its core, the camp encourages weather and data discovery in a fun and engaging way, allowing for more free time of exploration than what might be possible during school-time field trips. In addition, campers have an entire week for an immersive, cumulative learning experience to build on daily, with opportunities to visit locations unavailable to most other groups, including the weather tower and observers’ living quarters.

Lead School Programs Educator Misha Leyfer led these sessions, bringing both enthusiasm and expertise gleaned from his former experience as a summer camp director. “Storm Scouts offers an alternative to the classroom learning the campers are used to by serving as an experiential learning experience that takes campers through place-based lessons,” Misha explains. “While a camp based indoors would have left campers with a fundamental understanding of weather and its presence on Mount Washington, only on-location learning could provide the campers with a fun, social experience that makes each lesson memorable.”

By spending more time outdoors and on-site in Mount Washington’s weather station, students also had more freedom to organize the camp how they wanted. From setting the length of their hikes to designing their own day of camp, students also enjoy a self-led experience over their week at camp. Below, Misha outlines a day in the life of a camper:

For both sessions, the first of our five camp days – Monday – kicks off with campers creating and decorating their own, personalized notebooks from scratch, which are used for most activities for the following week. The remainder of the day is spent introducing campers to important weather concepts. The campers recorded their first weather observations in their notebooks after learning about the causes of Mount Washington’s extreme weather, and proceeded to perform a skit based on extreme weather conditions. The day concluded with some (very competitive) weather Jeopardy.

After an introductory Monday, campers went up Mount Washington – many for the first time – on the following day. Having made music playlists on Monday, the campers were well-equipped for van drives up the Auto Road. To help campers develop a holistic understanding of weather and its consequences, our summit trips revolve around a theme that is influenced by Mount Washington’s weather. On Tuesdays, the theme was ecology. Campers stop at three pull-off points on the Auto Road to observe the dramatic decrease in plant height at three different climate zones: the humid continental zone, subarctic zone, and arctic zone. At the summit, campers participated in a scavenger hunt that took them all around the summit cone.

Wednesday on Mount Washington is shift change day, so campers stayed in the valley. Big thanks to the Tin Mountain Conservation Center, White Mountain Science Inc., and the Pope Memorial Library for providing engaging programs to our campers during our two Wednesdays of camp.

The campers returned to the summit on Thursday, this time with a goal to learn about geology. But, before heading up, campers visited the NCON3 weather station outside of the MWOBS administrative offices in North Conway to submit their first weather observation to the National Weather Service. Once on the way to the summit, the group stopped at the “squiggly rocks” of the Auto Road to learn about the metamorphism that formed them and the glacial ages that shaped them. At the summit, campers interviewed one of the observers, along with school programs educator Olivia Dodge, who also works for the State Park on Mount Washington.

On Friday, camp wrapped up with a “Campers’ Own Design” day that allowed campers to organize their own plan for a Cog trip to the summit. Campers in both sessions of camp decided to explore Mount Washington’s gift shops and made sure to get some valuable Nimbus time.

Another exciting feature of camp is the opportunity for Storm Scouts to prepare for and present their very own Higher Summits Forecast! This happens in the same summit weather room used by MWOBS weather observers, and presents an enriching hands-on opportunity for campers to put their newly acquired forecasting skills to the test in a real-life scenario.

At camp’s conclusion, parents and guardians of campers provided invaluable feedback and testimonials to the power of experiential learning:

“This is such a tricky age to navigate (for kids and parents) and I really believe that Storm Scouts was a transformative experience for {our son},” shares one parent. “It made learning interesting and fun and cool for him, and opened his eyes to a wide range of possibilities and opportunities for the future.”

Another parent adds, “{My daughter} keeps sharing more and more facts, funny instances, and little snippets from her week and it’s very obvious she had an amazing time. I feel so incredibly lucky to have stumbled across storm scouts for our little unofficial school meteorologist. It’s the best thing ever as a parent when you can present your child with an opportunity to dig deeper into an area they are interested in.”

Your support makes transformative educational experiences for learners of all ages possible. To support our team’s work in education and outreach, please consider supporting our nonprofit with a gift today. To learn more about MWOBS’ Educational Programs, visit mountwashington.org/education.