<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Karate Kid.jpg" style="width: 200px; height: 150px; float: left;" />Being outside in God&rsquo;s Creation is truly a blessing. Participating in this internship is truly a blessing as well. I am thankful for this opportunity to learn, grow and better my teaching skills. &nbsp;Being a science teacher by trade, I found myself at home in this internship. And even more surprising to me, I have found a home at Au Sable. Within this internship, I have witnessed many things. I have witnessed God&rsquo;s creation. I have seen it from the breeze in the white pines to the glimmer of Louie&rsquo;s Pond. I have also witnessed the spark of love for the outdoors that ignites the hearts our students as they encounter the world outside their doorsteps.</p>
<p>
	As a science teacher, I spend my day in a classroom teaching students about the outdoors, and hope they take what they learn and apply it outside of school. However, I know each afternoon when the students go home, my lessons contend with the allure of TV and video games. I would love to be able to make that leap in the classroom where I can show them how what I teach them in the classroom matters outside of it as well. This is the very reason for why I took this internship: to learn better ways of getting students outside and teaching them more about natural history, and how to be better stewards of the land. As this internship progressed I found my goals being accomplished far beyond what I originally thought.</p>
<p>
	Whenever students come to Au Sable, for whatever program, they pass by Louie&rsquo;s Pond, and it is amazing to me the wonder that these kids have for it. If the day is sunny enough to have drawn out turtles or frogs, I unfailingly find every student standing along the pond edge yelling and pointing. This is only one example. I could make a list pages long of how I see the excitement of the students grow as we go out in to the forest and enjoy all that God has created! I know that God&#39;s world has scored a point against the TV. The outdoors has become a better memory to these students that have gone on walks with me. We need to rejoice and praise God for these small gains.</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;I want to come back here EVERYDAY!&rdquo; exclaimed a student after our hour long walk. &nbsp;</p>
<p>
	&ldquo;I never want to leave; I want to sleep here all night!&rdquo; reacted another student (this is the same kid who told me that he &ldquo;could not wait to go home and play&quot;).</p>
<p>
	It is these moments and a hundred more like them that make me want to be a science educator for the rest of my life. And at the end of the day, as I wave good bye to my exhausted students, I think, &ldquo;I cannot believe I get paid for this!&quot;</p>
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<p>
	<em>For since the creation of the world, God&rsquo;s invisible qualities&mdash;his eternal power and divine nature&mdash;have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without exc</em>use. Romans 1:20</p>
<p>
	You can learn more about Nick in our <a href="/news_and_resources/blog/spring_fresh_interns#.T9IAQr93ZiA">spring intern preview post</a>.</p>
