Guardians of the Future
Create your own future
During our last camp of the summer, Guardians of the Future, the Wonder Kids engage with big questions about how to create a more sustainable planet. They envision the world that lies ahead with hopefulness and curiosity as they display true stewardship of the Earth.
On a bright Tuesday morning, our explorers venture through the Wonder Village, their eyes peeled for hidden clues from Gaia, the Goddess of the Earth. Nestled among the trees, they uncover 11 letters and set their brilliant minds to the task for unscrambling them. After trying various combinations, the letters reveal one of our guiding tenets - “stewardship”. Gaia bestows upon them a mission: to complete the 10,000 year challenge in which they pick up trash in Prospect Park that takes much time to decompose. After a few hours, the adventurers track the items that they have found and calculate that, based on the decomposition card, they have saved Gaia 129,613 years of work! They celebrate their hard work with music, dancing, and badges as tokens of Gaia’s gratitude and then learn that their actions have resulted in something extraordinary… They have opened a portal to the future.
The following day, the children reunite, play, and joyfully wonder what day two may hold. Soon, they are given the opportunity to practice trust as they guide one another back into the Wonder Village blindfolded, feeling what it is like to walk into the unknown. Upon arrival, many Wonder Kids wish to keep their blindfolds on, their trust a testament to the community that they have built, but when they hear that there are new clues hidden in the forest, they set off to see what they can find. They encounter three questions:
WHAT THREE THINGS WOULD YOU TAKE IN YOUR SUITCASE TO THE FUTURE?
WHAT WOULD THE CITY OF THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?
HOW ARE YOU PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE?
They discuss their ideas and then embark on an adventure to interview park goers and collect ideas. While some adults approach these questions with fear of the future, the Wonder Kids respond with hope and a vision of a cleaner, more harmonious world. One Wonder Kid remarks, “The future can be how we want it to be! We just have to build it!”. This optimism resonates with the interviewee who seems to have found renewed encouragement through his conversation with the children. The Wonder Kids are magical. They explore the realities that we are facing without resigning to defeat. Big concepts like these can be difficult and even scary to address, but at the School of Wonder, we recognize that these discussions are necessary if we want to affect change. Rather than accepting that it is too late or that there is too much work to be done, our explorers take agency in finding solutions and determining how they can shape the future starting right here and now.
As they wander back through the forest, the Wonder Kids come upon a truly exceptional sight. A visitor from 100 years in the future has stepped through the portal that they opened yesterday. She shares insights about life in 2123 - a world made more beautiful with the help of our young stewards and their future children. When one curious mind asks about teleportation, she explains that an effort to preserve the environment, convenience has given way to sustainability. Airplanes have been replaced with electric gliders, vertical gardens adorn buildings, and streets have transformed into human and nature-centric spaces devoid of cars. This brighter future was realized through collective efforts to clean oceans, find eco-friendly transit options, and unite for sustainability. Motivated by these stories, the Wonder Kids painted vivid visions of future cities, creating an inspiring gallery before heading home.
CONNECTING WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED
When the camp ends, the Wonder Leaders continue to ponder these questions together at a show put on by Bread and Puppet Theater at the Old Stone House. The performance, both somber and playful, addresses big concepts like climate change, human rights, and environmental injustice through the lens of gorgeously crafted handmade puppets. The camp facilitators leave even more motivated to find ways to empower the children in our community to affect change immediately. In order to do so, the Wonder Team will be joining Fridays for Future NYC in the March to End Fossil Fuels on September 17 at 1 pm, and we invite you and all Wonder Families to join us there!
You can also read more about the summer camps we are offering this season here!
