School’s Out(side) : For 25 Years, Teacher Has Shown the Power--and Fragility--of Nature

In an Eaton Canyon meadow, under the stubborn shade of a half-charred oak tree, 33 schoolchildren sat quietly and watched a red-tailed hawk fly overhead.

Four hawks, they were told, escaped a fire that ravaged the canyon three years ago and left scars that are still present today. Children pointed out black fallen trees and commented on how ugly the crisp cactus corpses were.

But everywhere they looked, the fifth-graders also could see life. On the second day of a two-day hike through the canyon, the outdoor education class was asked to take note of the signs of rejuvenation in the once-scorched meadow.

“OK, now I want you all to open your notebooks to the daily journal section,” said their teacher, Sandor Junkunc. “And I want you to write one sentence. Just one sentence. I want you to write how you feel about what we’ve done.”

Junkunc (pronounced “Junk-ins”) doesn’t need a written sentence to express how he feels. Twenty-five years ago, the McKinley School teacher created the San Gabriel Unified School District’s outdoor education program. Incorporating nature into his science lessons, Junkunc has used regular class time to lead hundreds of students through the back trails of Eaton Canyon in Pasadena. In the hands-on environment of the outdoors, the avid hiker has taught students about the power of nature and the importance of respecting it. He has trained other district teachers who want to take their fifth-graders through the program.

And he loves what he’s done.

“A lot of kids just don’t have the chance to go out and visit nature,” he said. “Learning the beauty of it is very important. People should not wait until they’re adults to learn about nature.”

When he first proposed teaching outdoor education, Junkunc faced criticism from school officials who thought he just wanted to spend a day “picnicking in the park,” he said.

After seven hours of keeping 33 students together for a hike of almost three miles, Junkunc laughed at the initial misconception.

For three school days in a row, the teacher takes a bus full of students to the canyons (the third day is spent at Millard Canyon). The class does picnic, but not before crossing rivers, collecting leaves and learning the terminology of nature.

English is a second language to all of Junkunc’s students, whose native tongues range from Spanish to Burmese. But by the end of the day, the children were shouting out words like “alluvial fan” and “erosion” during occasional pop quizzes.

The students also kept notebooks that they will use for reference when they write a final report about the trip. In the past, much of the students’ note-taking focused on nature’s beauty.

But against the backdrop of the 1993 fire, Junkunc’s lessons gained an added drama. Days after the blaze, he hiked through the ash-filled canyon, shocked by the damage.

Five months later, during the outdoor education hike, Junkunc was shocked again: The canyon bloomed with renewed life. Flowers whose seeds had lain dormant in the ground for decades sprang up where cactus used to grow. Nature was moving forward, and its power was never more obvious.

Junkunc took pictures of the destruction, and he and his classes have been monitoring the canyon’s revival. Before this year’s group put on their hiking boots, he showed them slides of the fire’s aftermath.

“It was all black and burned,” said Samantha Mungwia, 11, stomping through tall grass and constantly watching out for poison oak. “It’s very pretty now.”

Maybe too pretty, said Thao Duong. Looking lost in the midst of thigh-deep grass, the 10-year-old said, “I wish somebody would mow this place.”

Minor complaints notwithstanding, the students said they appreciated the canyon’s rebirth and were acutely aware of nature’s power and fragility.

Standing on a rock, surrounded by a tight circle of students, Junkunc asked them if they thought nature is strong.

“Yes!” they shouted.

“Is it so strong that it can’t be destroyed?” Junkunc asked. “What would life be like if we cut down all natural areas?”

“We would destroy the beauty of nature,” said Lien Dihn, 12. “This stuff is easy.”