Make it stand out.

“Being able to work with kids in an effective and real way by passing on skills or knowledge to help improve someone's sense of self and community is an amazing honor,” Nathan Roark mused beneath a canopy of autumn leaves.

Nathan, recognizing the need for voluntary, outdoor education programs for underserved youth, created Buffalo Cove Outdoor Education Center in 2000. Nathan reflects he only saw kids “getting into the woods as a punishment either sent by the court system or by parents with enough money to send [kids] to a program that didn't know what to do”, and he wasn’t a fan. “The woods are a place to grow, create community, and find yourself,” he says. With these ideals, @buffalocovecamp specializes in providing high-quality education in primitive life skills to underserved youth from all over the country. Buffalo Cove’s inaugural program was a week-long summer session with children from inner-city Miami and Nathan witnessed magic. He saw firsthand how kids came together, loved the experience, loved each other and really grew as human beings to experience the power of a small community.

After a few years, Buffalo Cove needed a homestead. Luckily, Nathan immediately knew where to go. Here, in the embracing valley of the Southern Appalachians where Nathan learned his lessons as a young boy, became home to Buffalo Cove. From early April until late October, the center is in full swing working directly with local schools as well as out-of-state groups to provide children with a fully immersive nature experience, ranging from excursions with a fleet of canoes to overnight hikes with backpacking goats. The center prides itself on maintaining small class to staff ratios because as Nathan says, the team “can meet every group where they are and grow with them,” whether its a group from a big city or a small mountain town.

At the end of a session, Nathan remarks, “The kids have a real sense of accomplishment. They learn perseverance and that life isn't made to be immediate.” The skills taught by Buffalo Cove reflect our “shared human heritage” according to Nathan, and remind us how to reconnect to our natural roots in order to come back together as a community.