ImageLaura Ann Johnson (daughter of club member Bill Johnson) visited recently to say THANK YOU for our community grant supporting her youth services program in Northern Michigan.  An overview of her program follows: 
 
A middle school located in eastern michigan and one of the first schools to ever attend the Leelanau Outdoor Center (LOC) when it began in 1994. They stayed for 4 days 3 nights and brought about 60 students 6th graders to camp.   They had a number of students that could not pay for their stay at LOC and the Rotary grant helped pay for many of their students. 
 
A specific highlight from this program was about a young man who has 21 adopted brothers and sisters, three of which were at LOC. He never smiled, removed himself from big group situations, in general was fairly quiet and non responsive.  By the 2nd night this young man was sharing highlights in front of the whole group and finally broke a smile and had a blast.  The teacher came up to me and said how wonderful it was to see him finally break out of the his shell, she has always been impressed with the staff and their ability to love the kids unconditionally.

The mission of the Leelanau Outdoor Center is to promote the discovery and development of positive character values through experiential learning in our natural environment. 

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Brief History
The Leelanau Outdoor Center (LOC) was established in 1994 in collaboration with local school teachers who saw a need for quality outdoor and character education.  Today over 2,000 students from across Michigan attend LOC programs each year.  
 
Utilizing the resources of our spectacular property on Lake Michigan, the innovative programs at LOC are expanding education beyond the walls of a classroom.  LOC activities are age appropriate and strongly support Michigan state standards for science, character education and physical activity. 
 
A typical three day program includes full accommodations, healthy meals, and a variety of seasonal activities such as: hiking in the Sleeping Bear Dunes, aquatic studies, animal tracking, team-building activities, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, orienteering, canoeing, or navigating the high-ropes course.
 
ImageGoals
The Leelanau Outdoor Center goals are to support and enhance the curriculum at public, private, and parochial schools by:
Educating students about the environment in a spectacular outdoor classroom
Giving children new opportunities for outdoor physical activity
Inspiring students to become stewards of our natural surroundings through positive outdoor experiences 
Encouraging the development of positive character traits which enable students to achieve excellence and make valuable contributions in their communities