How one school’s 25-year tradition at Camp Joy is creating memories that last for generations.
For some children, it’s their first time making a s’more. For others, it’s meeting a goat, learning to use a tool, or feeling the mud beneath their shoes. To an adult, these might seem like ordinary childhood experiences, but for a child who has never had the opportunity to explore the outdoors freely, they can mean something entirely different. Kim Childs, principal of St. Boniface School in Cincinnati, has witnessed these moments of discovery for nearly three decades, seeing children’s eyes light up at the sight of farm animals, watched them discover new skills, and listening as they excitedly shared stories about experiences they never imagined having. Yet, some of the most meaningful moments come from something much simpler—walking through the trees, playing in the grass, and getting a little muddy. While these are things many of us remember doing as children without giving them a second thought, for some of Kim’s students, those moments are anything but ordinary.
A Different Kind of Classroom
At St. Boniface School, many students grow up in an urban environment where opportunities to explore nature can be limited, with Kim recalling conversations with children who have told her they aren’t allowed to leave their homes to play outside because of safety concerns. Imagine being a child and seeing the outdoors through a window, knowing there’s a whole world to explore but not always having the freedom to experience it. At Camp Joy, that world opens up. Through Camp Joy’s Outdoor School Program, students step away from their traditional classrooms and into 317 acres of forest, fields, ponds, and hands-on learning opportunities where education looks and feels different. A walk through the woods becomes an opportunity to discover the natural world, getting muddy becomes part of learning, trying something unfamiliar becomes a chance to build confidence, and sometimes, the greatest lesson is simply discovering the joy of being outside. As Kim shared, “Camp Joy provides experiences that our inner-city students do not get to experience,” making the experience for these children much more than field trip — it’s an opportunity to explore, ask questions, take healthy risks, and discover something new about themselves and the world around them.
A Tradition That Spans Generations
Kim’s connection to Camp Joy began in 1996, when she was fourth-grade teacher who, together with Jackie, a fifth grade teacher across the hall, began bringing students to Camp Joy for outdoor learning experiences. When both educators moved to St. Boniface School around 2001, the tradition followed them, with Jackie continuing to bring fifth graders year after year to create an experience that became a meaningful part of the school’s history. More than two decades later, Kim stepped into Jackie’s former fifth-grade teaching position and continued the tradition herself, ensuring the experience remained part of her students’ education when she became principal the following year, and she still accompanies the fifth graders on their visits today. What began as two teachers wanting to give their students something beyond the classroom has become a tradition connecting generations of St. Boniface families, as Kim has now been an educator long enough to see former students return as parents, bringing their own children through the same doors they once walked through. Among the memories those former students still talk about is their time at Camp Joy — an experience that may have lasted only a few days, yet stayed with someone for more than 20 years, proving that long after the muddy shoes were cleaned and the school buses returned home, something about those days in nature remained.
More Than a Field Trip
There's something powerful about giving children the freedom to explore in a world where so much of their time is structured, supervised, or spent indoors, as nature offers space to be curious, make mistakes, and discover what they're capable of. Through Camp Joy's Outdoor School Program, students learn by doing, whether they're studying life in a pond, exploring the woods, or working together to overcome a challenge, and along the way, they're building confidence, practicing cooperation, and discovering that they belong in these spaces, too. Because every child deserves the opportunity to feel the grass beneath their feet, look up through the branches of a tree, and experience the freedom of simply being a kid.
The People Who Make These Moments Possible
For Kim, bringing her students to Camp Joy is a blessing made possible by people who believe every child deserves these opportunities, with the generosity of donors and transportation support from CISE (Catholic Inner-city Schools Education) allowing students to experience a world beyond their everyday surroundings. The impact doesn’t end when they return to school, but rather lives in the stories they tell, the confidence they carry, and the memories they share years later with their own children. While twenty-five years from now today’s fifth graders might not remember every lesson from school, they may remember their first s’more, the feeling of walking through the woods, or the joy of discovering something new, proving that what begins as a single day of discovery can become a memory that lasts a lifetime. To Kim, Jackie, the educators who have carried this tradition forward, and the donors and partners who make these experiences possible, thank you for helping generations of children discover that the outdoors belongs to them, too.
Note: The photos used in this story are for narrative purposes only and do not depict St. Boniface students.