Pandemic Setback Leads Wallace Students Back to Camp KEEP

Excited voices drift across the shoreline as students spread out for their morning activities along the coast. One group pauses to watch otters floating through the water with their pups resting on their bellies. Nearby, others search the rocky tide pools for sea urchins, crabs, and other marine life tucked between the rocks. Just down the dock, bursts of laughter erupt during a lesson known as “belly biology,” where students lean over the water to observe and gently touch organisms like sea anemones and seaweed.

For thousands of sixth grade students across Kern County, moments like these are part of a cherished tradition at Camp KEEP. But for one group of students from Wallace Middle School, the opportunity they had waited years for suddenly disappeared when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down their trip just days before they were scheduled to leave.

That fateful March, Camp KEEP closed its doors for the first time in its 51-year history. By the time Camp KEEP reopened, the group from Wallace had moved on to eighth grade and eventually high school. For many of them, it seemed their opportunity had passed.

But one teacher had other plans. Meg Hairell, an Achievement Leader at Wallace Middle School, made a promise to her students she never intended to break.

“I told them, ‘If you come find me your senior year and still want to go to Camp KEEP, I will make sure that happens,’” Hairell said. “It’s such a special place, and I knew how disappointed they were when their trip was canceled.”

Hairell said the group had always stood out to her.

“They were just a special group of kids. They were always the ones stepping up and doing the right thing,” she said. “I knew how meaningful this place was, and I wanted to make sure they had the chance to experience it.”

Years later, those students kept their side of the promise.

Now seniors in high school, ten students from the Kern River Valley returned to Camp KEEP last week — not as campers, but as counselors. Instead of attending the camp themselves, they stepped into leadership roles helping guide sixth grade students from Wallace Middle School and South Fork Middle School through the same experience they once missed.

“Their excitement when they got off the bus was incredible,” Hairell said. “Watching them get their journals, make their wood cookies, and go on hikes — you would think they were having even more fun than the sixth graders. They understand what they missed out on, so being here now is really special.”

For many of the high school counselors, finally experiencing Camp KEEP has been deeply meaningful, especially as they recognize what this trip represents for students from the Kern River Valley.

“I think this matters a lot,” said student counselor Ella Mauer. “A lot of kids in the valley have never been to the ocean. We live around nature in the mountains, but this is different. They get to see new animals and learn things they might never experience otherwise.”

For some students, the trip is their first time leaving the Kern River Valley.

“Even going to Bakersfield can be a big trip for some of them,” Mauer said. “So coming somewhere like this and seeing the ocean for the first time — it really opens their eyes to the world.”

Beyond the science lessons and coastal views, the counselors say the most memorable moments have come from building relationships with the younger students.

“One of my favorite parts has been bonding with the girls in our cabin,” said student counselor Ariel Balan. “We braid their hair, talk with them, and just spend time together. Yesterday, they told us we were their favorite counselors, and that was the best feeling ever.”

Camp KEEP Program Supervisor Elizabeth Roberts said the presence of the high school counselors has had a powerful impact on the younger students.

“These students have been exceptional role models,” Roberts said. “They’re participating in everything — from journaling and tide pooling to singing campfire songs — and the sixth graders are watching and following their lead.”

Roberts remembers the devastation when Camp KEEP closed in 2020, recalling phone calls with Wallace Middle School administrators and teachers where she could hear students crying in the background. Moments like that underscored how much the program meant to students, and pushed staff to find new ways to continue sharing science and nature with classrooms across California.

When schools closed in 2020, the program quickly shifted to a virtual model to help teachers continue providing outdoor science education while students were learning from home.

Staff created nature-focused videos about topics like geology, native plants, and tide pools, along with campfire songs and simple outdoor activities teachers could share with their classes.

Students also received backpacks filled with exploration tools — including journals, pencils, wood cookie necklaces, beads, tape measures, and hand lenses — allowing them to observe nature in their own backyards.

During live virtual sessions, staff guided students through activities such as identifying mystery animal skulls, learning how scientists keep nature journals, and observing marine life through live ocean webcams.

Between the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 school years, more than 18,000 students from 41 districts participated in the Virtual Camp KEEP program. In Spring 2022, the program began welcoming students back with one-day coastal field trips, giving more than 3,000 students from 37 schools the opportunity to reconnect with the outdoors.

“When schools reopened, districts realized how important it was for kids to reconnect with each other and with learning again,” Roberts said.

Throughout the week, the Wallace counselors participated in hands-on environmental science activities alongside the sixth graders, including tide pool exploration, where they observed sea urchins — even spotting a rare red one — anemones, and crabs in the rocky intertidal zone. They hiked through coastal woodlands and along creeks while studying native plants such as the and recording their observations and scientific findings in daily field journals.

Evenings were filled with music as campers sang songs and shared stories. 

Living together in cabins encouraged teamwork and responsibility, while the high school counselors helped mentor younger students and guide them through new experiences.

For Hairell, seeing her former students return years later was a powerful reminder of why she made the promise in the first place.

“I wanted them to know that they mattered and that this experience mattered,” she said. “Watching them come back now as leaders and role models has been incredible.”