When school lets out this summer, four Clinton students will have the opportunity to get outside for hands-on experiences, thanks to a Clinton Land Conservation Trust scholarship that pays for a two-week summer camp experience at Bushy Hill Nature Center.

In 2009, the Clinton Land Conservation Trust received a bequest totaling more than $300,000 from the estate of the late Eunice Carter Symonds, a lifelong resident of Clinton whose ancestors were among the town’s founding families. Symonds, who was in her 90s when she passed, was passionate about environmental education for children. The Eunice Symonds Scholarship—awarded each year to four Pierson School students—was established in her name.

Winners of the 2016 Eunice Symonds Scholarship are Skylar Peterson and Shaina Gee (grade 4) and Ruby Tuccitto and Sofie Passante (grade 5). This will be each girl’s first time attending camp at Bushy Hill.

Recipients are chosen through an essay contest where they are asked to write about why they want to attend nature camp. Essays are read by board members of the land trust.

Dana Skidmore, who teaches 4th grade at Clinton’s Abraham Pierson School and directs the town’s Ecology Camp, believes 4th and 5th graders are at a perfect age for this type of experience, saying, “I feel that this age group is very impressionable.”

“Animals make me feel happy,” Gee wrote. “I’m an adventurous kid, and it’s good to be away from technology.” She added, “My dad would be proud of me if I won this scholarship.”

Passante, who is one of seven siblings, and Tuccitto, one of nine, both come from large families, where finding quiet time to explore and reflect can be a challenge.

“Nature is a calm, relaxing, fun time for me,” Tuccitto wrote. “I’m already a geologist, and I am hoping to become a scientist.”

“At Bushy Hill, I will learn to bond with nature,” said Passante.

Peterson looks forward to making new friends this summer, writing, “This experience will help build up my self-confidence and could give me so much knowledge about nature.”

Situated on more than 700 acres encompassing Deep River and Ivoryton, Bushy Hill boasts a spring-fed lake, miles of trails, a working tipi and wigwam site, a farm, and an expansive ropes course. With daily activities that include tracking, swimming, hiking, and plant and animal identification, camps are designed to connect young people with the natural environment. A two-week session costs $540.

This marks the scholarship’s sixth year.