Nature center hosts family fun

Annual event keeps kids busy with a variety of activities
By: 
Miriam Nelson
News Editor

BIRNAMWOOD — The annual fall open house for the Witt-Birn Nature Center was held Oct. 22 at the Hi-Wood School Forest north of Birnamwood.

The newest activity was the Haunted Trail, thanks to the effort of Alexandria Exworthy — the new music and band teacher at Birnamwood Elementary-Middle School.

“I’ve been doing haunted trails since fifth grade, and I’m 26 now,” said Exworthy. “With all that experience, I figured that would be a perfect fit for me.”

Exworthy enlisted the help of several friends and set up the trail the previous weekend. Props were donated from Schairer’s Autumn Acres. The team set up five stations over a quarter-mile trail. The hillbilly station, zombie graveyard, witches station, spider web maze and carnival magician’s station were also manned by costumed students to add to the fear factor, Exworthy said.

Jackie Berndt, the district literacy coordinator, serves as the chairman of the committee that makes this event possible, as well as the winter snow event.

“This is the most fun committee to be on,” Berndt said. “It’s the least cognitive, and the teachers who get involved do so because they’re passionate about it.”

The activities were scattered throughout the property and inside the Nature Center. In the basement of the building, there was the opportunity to carve or color pumpkins.

Deb Rades, a fourth-grade teacher at Wittenberg Elementary-Middle School, gave archery instructions. Though not a hunter herself, her children competed in 4-H, so she’s had a lot of experience.

“I used to gun hunt a little, but it wasn’t my thing,” said Sage Blum, a Birnamwood seventh-grader, as she waited for her turn to shoot.

Upstairs on the main level of the building, there was plenty of chili that was cooked by the high school Family and Consumer Education classes. Pumpkin desserts were donated by parents wanting to take part in the bake-off contest.

Outside there was the opportunity to press apples in a machine demonstrated by Dan Kapitz, Birnamwood Elementary-Middle School science teacher.

“Wilson Orchards donated five bushels of apples, which will make about eight gallons of cider,” said Kapitz. “The kids enjoy working the hand-cranked press.”

Berndt noted that all the activities were free, which hasn’t always been the case. The committee now has a fund that helps to buy the necessities, such as pumpkins and ingredients to make s’mores.

A lot of fundraising has made this all possible, according to former teacher Kelly Kapitz, who has been involved with the development of the property for many years.
Kelly Kapitz shared that the land had been donated decades ago to the school district on the condition that it be used for school forest activities. The property is in a land management project, which means it’s logged through a crop management system, and the proceeds go to help fund the operational expenses.

“What’s important is the majority of the cost of the Nature Center building was paid for through fundraising, donations and community effort from businesses like Resch Tile and Dombeck Custom Cabinets and the Wisconsin Deer Hunters-Witt-Birn Chapter,” she said.

Berndt noted that the fall open house has been better attended since switching from a weekend day to a weeknight. About 100 people attended the event.