About 90 minutes into the hike, 11th grader Kenji Xiong yelled, “Bingo!” as he filled the winning square of a row that included boar bones, oak galls, cattle, coyote scat and feathers from a mourning dove. There was no winning prize for Xiong — except for the memory of the day as it stood out from typical school experiences.
“In a classroom, you get images and explanations,” Xiong said. “But out here, you get a more personal experience. You can see and feel these things yourself. Interacting like this is more fun and memorable.”
After about two miles of easy hiking, the groups settled down for lunch in the shade of towering oaks and sycamores. In the dry creekbed nearby, sandstone boulders were etched with seashell fossils.
“There’s a lot of nature here that we just don’t have in Lompoc,” said 11th grader Alyssa Jimenez. “It’s really pretty and very calming.”
Her friend Hailey jumped in, “And there’s no cell service, so you’re not on your phone the whole time.”
After lunch, the students walked slowly back to Diamond Corrals. They stopped to compare and contrast leaves from different shrubs and trees. They learned how to tell the difference between coyote and fox scat. They marveled at oak trunks pitted with thousands of hollows carved out by acorn woodpeckers.
Along the way, their UCSB mentors prompted them to think about their day at the preserve, what they learned and the value of hands-on education in nature.
Hailey didn’t hesitate. “There’s fresh air, and it’s not as crowded,” she said. “I’d much rather be out here than sitting in a classroom. Out here, it seems like I absorb and remember more information.”