Are we going to catch a butterfly or dragonfly?” Miranda asked doubtfully as I again missed a green darner high up in the tree branches.

Miranda, a camper in our Nature Explorers group, was fascinated by all things that fly. She was singularly focused on catching butterflies and dragonflies for observation.

In mid-January, during those grand days of winter when we actually had snow on the ground, I learned the value of taking chances through the determination of an 8th grade girl.

It was a chilly day, but I had discovered the previous week that students cannot wait to be outside, even on the coldest of days.

One student caught my attention as we walked out to the bus. She told me that it was her first trip to the Urban Ecology Center, her first winter in Wisconsin, and how excited she was for her first opportunity to explore snow. Little did she know, her class was about to go cross-country skiing.