Northland College seniors April Morris and Betsy Tahtinen are two of many Northland College students inspiring students of all ages about the great outdoors. April credits her passion for the outdoors to a person from her past. “There was this man I met at a state park when I was a kid. He’d take us around the park and show us different plants, animals, slides and all kinds of different things like that. It made me really interested in nature. So he was one of my inspirations.”
April and Betsy keep busy interning at the Cable Natural History Museum. The Museum recently launched a new exhibit called Carnivore Café, which looks at predators in northern Wisconsin.
Betsy is involved in the online website writing about the program and keeping the exhibit neat. When she’s not busy doing that, she’s teaching kids about science. “Every Tuesday and Wednesday we have programs from 10 until noon for kids,” Betsy said. Those programs range in topics, “We just had a program that was all about bubbles so all the kids got to play with bubbles. We also had one that was all about soil. We have a Rockin Good Time which is all about rocks. And then we have Under the Water where we will go down to the Namekagon River and look at what is under the water.”
April spends her time facilitating a unique program for high school students called FLIP or Forest Lab Internship Program. The program pays 12 high school students from around the area to learn about science. “We go to Minnesota, all over Wisconsin and learn about different sciences like geology, medical science, veterinary science, herpetology, natural resources, anything that pertains to science,” April said. The program lasts 9 weeks.
As part of this program, April is teaching students about composting. April chose the topic because she feels the topic extends beyond science. “I ask them things like why it is important to do, why it would be good to influence other people to do this. I think there is a lot of ethics we went into.” April continues, “They are very receptive. I was sort of nervous at first but I think my enthusiasm helped them get excited about it.”
The two also extend their passion about the outdoors into the adult community. On most Saturday nights at the Telemark Resort in Cable, the public can attend free campfire interpretive programs. As part of their internship April and Betsy oversee two events. April is using her passion for photography and art in a presentation about eco-art. Betsy is focusing on her passion in outdoor education by helping people of all ages develop their outdoor skills.