About Me

Hi !  My name is Maoz and I am a junior at Skyline High School.

Enjoying the outdoors and spending time in nature has always been an important part of my life. I started attending the Blue Turtle Nature and Wilderness Skills summer day camp when I was eight years old. The camp was run by Larissa, a middle school Spanish teacher, and her husband Frank who trained under Tom Brown, the famous naturalist and author.

Frank became an important mentor to me and taught me so many outdoors skills. These included things like how to find your way in the forest when you are lost, how to build shelters, how to find water in the wilderness, what plants and berries are safe to eat, how to make cordage out of plants, how to build fires, etc. We also learned about proper equipment for camping and surviving out in the wilderness. I learned that having fun in the great outdoors is even more fun when you know how to keep yourself safe!

My love for the outdoors led me to apply to attend the Northwaters and Langskib Summer Wilderness program in northern Ontario, starting the summer I was 11. Every summer for six years after this I got to have this amazing experience, spending a month in the wild, camping, canoeing, portaging, and surviving off of whatever we were able to carry in with us.

When I was 15 years old, my mentor, Frank, at Blue Turtle passed away after a long and courageous battle with cancer. I was devastated but vowed to continue my outdoor education any way I could. Larissa kept the Blue Turtle tradition going, and I was really excited when she hired me as a full time camp counselor every summer to teach many of the things that Frank had taught. It was sobering and exciting to be using Frank’s old tools and to be teaching groups of kids all the things that had so fascinated me as a child. I missed Frank so much, but was honored to be carrying on the tradition. Being part of the Blue Turtle community has been and continues to be an amazing and fulfilling experience.

Now, as a 17 year old, I know that I want to work in the field of outdoor education, and possibly in medicine as well. In the past two years I completed the NWL Bay Trip to the St. James Bay, just south of the arctic circle, and got to experience a month in the wilderness. See my post about The Waters of the Chichichiwan to read more!

I also earned my Wilderness First Responder Certification. This was an intensive three week course taught by EMT staff and included any medical emergency that a first responder might encounter in the wild. Much of what we learned involved how to stabilize injuries, even severe ones until more experienced medical help arrived. Although I had to get special permission to take this course as a minor under 18 years old, I loved learning how to literally save people’s lives.

One thing that I have really become aware of over the years is how many kids my age have spent little to no time outside in the natural world. Many of these kids have never gone camping or hiking or had much experience out in nature. As we humans all take stock of our situation currently on the planet we call home, I believe it is more important than ever to learn about nature and the outdoors. Understanding our place in the natural world will help lead us forward on a more positive path as we look to the future. Simple lessons about the outdoors are a step towards helping kids my age feel more comfortable in the world they live in. I am excited to see what we can all accomplish together while keeping in mind the lessons of the outdoors, learning about how to co-exist harmoniously with nature, and having lots of fun while doing it!