When Emelia’s family began looking for a preschool, her mom, Vanessa, was searching for a place that felt like the right fit for their family. They explored several options around town, but none felt quite right. Then, almost by chance, she saw a sign for Ferncliff Nature School while driving on Cantrell.

She called, scheduled a tour with Rachel, and quickly knew they had found something different.

“It just felt like the right thing for a child.”

At the time, Emelia’s family did not think of themselves as especially outdoorsy. For Vanessa, the transition to a school built around mud, bugs, gear, and outdoor play was an adjustment. But even then, she knew Ferncliff was offering Emelia something meaningful.

“I knew in my heart that was the right environment for her to develop.”

What followed was not one big dramatic moment, but a hundred small ones that stayed with Emelia for years.

She still remembers small, vivid moments from her time at Nature School. “We would take paint brushes and dip them in jars of water and pretend we were painting the fence,” she said. She also remembers mud play and making paint from the outdoors. “We would crush up some sort of red rock and mix it with like water or something,” she said.

Some of her clearest memories are tied to making things with her hands. Emelia remembered sitting with one of her teachers, Miss Andrea, carving sticks together. “I liked to sit down with her and just grab random sticks to carve with,” she said. 

Near the end of her time at Nature School, she also made a hiking stick of her own. Her mom remembers that project lasting for weeks, as Emelia carefully worked at it until it was finished.

She also remembers the freedom to explore and imagine outdoors. “We would just take random rocks and build a circle around like a pile of wood so we could, like, start a little fire or something,” she said. These are the kinds of memories that have stayed with her: hands-on, sensory, and deeply rooted in the kind of childhood Ferncliff invites children to have.

Her mom remembers it, too. After the first few drop-offs, Emelia settled in quickly. Pickup time was often the same scene: a happy child, outside, fully absorbed in play.

“Anytime we would come to pick her up she was smiling and running and playing and making mud soup.”

Years later, those experiences still show up in who Emelia is.

“After nature school, it definitely left a lot of creativity in me,” Emelia said.

That creativity still appears in Emelia’s love of drawing, making, and imagining. It also shaped the way she moves through the outdoors. “Whenever we went out, like just to explore, we would bring stuff like binoculars, like tools, pots for mud soup and pie,” she said. Years later, that instinct is still with her. “I do still… like to bring gear,” Emelia said, including binoculars and the compass she received from Nature School.

But the impact goes deeper than treasured keepsakes.

After Emelia graduated, her family moved away for several years. Her mom tried to recreate some of the outdoor time Emelia had loved at Ferncliff, taking the family hiking and searching for opportunities to be outside. Over time, she began to notice something: being outdoors still changed Emelia.

“She gets very centered when she starts to spend time outside again.”

After one Wildcraft Days Saturday gathering that brought several Nature School alumni back together, Emelia’s mom remembers picking Emelia up and thinking, “Oh, she’s back.” She said Emelia was “so happy and just like in awe of the world again.”

That may be the clearest picture of Ferncliff’s impact on Emelia. Nature School did not just give her a few good preschool memories. It helped shape the way she experiences the world. It nurtured creativity, confidence, and a deep connection to the outdoors that still remains.

On April 25, Emelia and other Ferncliff Nature School alumni will have the chance to return to campus once again for Ferncliff’s 10th Annual Hike-a-thon. This year, funds raised through the event will help grow scholarships for Nature Preschool students, making it possible for more children to experience the kind of curiosity, belonging, and outdoor learning that shaped Emelia’s earliest years.

Years later, Emelia can still recall the details: the fence, the sticks, the sand, the teachers, the tools, the feeling of being outside. And her family can still see the lasting effect of those years in the person she is becoming.

Some experiences fade with time. Others stay with us.

For Emelia, Ferncliff was one of the ones that stayed.

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Thank you for being part of the Ferncliff Nature School story.

As we celebrate our 10th Annual Hike-a-thon, we’re especially grateful for alumni like Emelia who are coming back to help raise funds for the Nature School Scholarship Fund. Your support helps more children experience the wonder of learning, growing, and belonging in nature.

Visit the Hike-a-thon page to join the celebration, volunteer, make a gift, or cheer on a hiker.