Islip Middle School students in the EXCEL program recently participated in a two-part wilderness survival course taught by John Scott, a forest ranger from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. In the first session, the students learned about the job of a forest ranger before delving into survival skills such as how to use a compass, make a splint, improvise a stretcher and retrace their footsteps, as well as the value of resilience, team communication and maintaining morale. They had the chance to test out their new skills in the second session with mock training exercises.

“My idea for this course is teaching the students wilderness survival to help them in case they are with somebody who gets hurt while they’re camping, so they can get out to the road and get some help,” Scott said.

Date Added: 6/2/2023