Summer Camp for High School Students at a Nature Preserve
Wolf Lake, Ind.— Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College is hosting a
weeklong summer camp for upcoming high school juniors and seniors to learn about the broad world of conservation during Conservation Leadership School (CLS)! Students will camp overnight and explore Merry Lea’s 1,189-acre nature preserve from June 2 - 6, 2025. Students will canoe across glacial lakes, run a community nature event, and get a taste of careers like botany, land management, environmental education and sustainable farming. They will enjoy an educational and rejuvenating week with peers and professionals passionate about the natural world.
The entire camp costs $80, which includes meals and lodging for the whole week, and full scholarships are available. Interested students need to fill out an application online and have a teacher or mentor submit a short letter of recommendation by April 28 at merrylea.goshen.edu/cls. Throughout the week, CLS students are surrounded by Merry Lea’s forests, prairies, wetlands, teaching farms and other ecosystems. This not only provides the immersive learning setting for the program, but is also the backdrop for everyday connections to the plant and animal inhabitants of these landscapes.
“I think it is very important to lead by example, showing that it is possible and plausible to live sustainably,” said one participant from a previous year. “Showing leadership means setting an example for people to follow. It means being the first one to step up and do something about a problem,” reflected another previous CLS student.
A main goal of this program is for young people to become better equipped to serve as leaders in environmental settings. More details can be found on our website at merrylea.goshen.edu/cls.
Merry Lea is located just south of Wolf Lake, Ind., halfway between Goshen and Fort Wayne. Directions and updates are available at merrylea.goshen.edu or the Merry Lea Facebook page.
For questions regarding Merry Lea’s hours or new developments, contact merrylea@goshen.edu or (260) 799-5869.
Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College is an 1,189-acre nature preserve in north central Indiana, midway between Fort Wayne and Goshen. The center is known for its ecological diversity, its quality environmental education and its efforts in the area of sustainable building and land restoration. While prairies and woodlands are also part of the landscape, the diverse wetlands at Merry Lea are its greatest treasure. To learn more, see Merry Lea’s website at www.goshen.edu/merrylea.
Goshen College, established in 1894, is a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college's Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron's Best Buys in Education, "Colleges of Distinction," "Making a Difference College Guide" and U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges" edition, which named Goshen a "least debt college." Visit www.goshen.edu.