How a Black educator is helping SLO County kids of all backgrounds connect to nature
As a Black man who runs an outdoor science program for children in San Luis Obispo County, John Sanders encounters occasional challenges to his teaching.
The founder of Delphinus School of Natural History has been stopped at least twice by police officers wondering what he’s up to.
Once, in 2012, police officers stopped Sanders as he was loading his students into a van in Morro Bay. They had received a report that “some Black man was playing in the park with a group of white kids,” he recalled.
In 2016, police confronted Sanders as he met with students at a creek in San Luis Obispo County. Someone had reported seeing a man luring children into a van with no windows.
So Sanders welcomed the police officers to check his vehicle. When they opened the van’s back door, they found a golden eagle with a six-foot wingspan staring down at them — making one officer flinch.
“They kept apologizing to me, and muttered something about wasted resources,” Sanders recalled. “I’ve had colleagues say, ‘If it were me, no one would have called.’ But because of my color, it became an issue.”
For the most part, however, Sanders said he’s had pleasant experiences teaching on the Central Coast. His camp helps kids around San Luis Obispo County develop a personal relationship with nature through experiential learning.
Los Osos educator grew up with nature
Sanders, who currently lives in the Los Osos area, grew up in Pennsylvania.
As a child, he often visited his grandparents in Mississippi, where he learned how to live off the land.
“I always felt my family and Black people in general had a strong connection with the land, even though we didn’t own much of it,” Sander said. “That’s where it all started for me.”
In 1956, Sanders and his family relocated to Venice, California, where the beach and the Santa Monica Pier became his new playground. Sanders spent most of his time on the beach wandering around the dunes, or in the Santa Monica mountains having “adventures,” he said.
“It’s ironic we ended up in what is now the most expensive real estate. But in the ’50s and ’60s it was considered the ghetto,” Sanders said. “But the ghetto was only eight blocks from the ocean.”
Sanders spent a lot of time on the Santa Monica Pier learning to fish with this father, a commercial fisherman.
That’s where Sanders developed his deep passion for marine life. “I don’t remember falling in love with nature, but I never fell out,” he said.
Back then, Sanders said, children were encouraged to be outside — as long as they were back home before the streetlights came on. He hopes to help kids find a similar connection to nature through his summer camps.
SLO County camp teaches connection with nature
In 2011, Sanders founded the Delphinus School of Natural History, taking its name from a constellation inspired by a Greek myth about a dolphin messenger of the god Poseidon.
He works with local kids to help them develop regional nature awareness, while guiding them along the path of becoming environmental stewards.
Through his school, Sanders does summer camps that last five days, where he takes kids on trips to local tide pools, explorations of national parks and visits to Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands National Park for camping and snorkeling.
They often spend time kayaking around Morro Bay exploring nature and learning about marine ecosystems. The students also learn about how humans affect coastal ecosystems.
Sanders said focusing on children ages 7 to 12 is essential because that is when children are still impressionable and inquisitive.
Sanders began his journey as an environmental educator while working towards a master’s degree in marine biology at UC Santa Cruz.
As a graduate student, Sanders helped develop the UC Santa Cruz Summer Science Program, which exposed young kids to different science careers and helped to jump start the development of students’ science identities. He focused his work there on students who were considered to be underachievers, the ones most overlooked in class because they often don’t attract attention.
“One day, we went on a whale watching trip, and watched 16 orcas attack a great whale and her calf,” Sanders said. “From then on I knew that experiential education was the only way I would teach anymore.”
Sanders said it’s important for children to develop a personal relationship with nature so they can become environmental stewards, not just observers. That even makes them better voters, he added, because they’re well informed about environment and sustainability issues.
Sanders funds his program out of his own wallet, and often offers scholarships to local schools and organizations such as the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo and Stand Strong, formerly The Women’s Shelter Program of San Luis Obispo County.
“The people who need access to nature the most are often ones who can least afford it,” Sanders said. “ It’s been a goal of mine to be able to reach out into the communities that are not as available to access my summer camp.”
Outdoor camps essential during coronavirus pandemic
Normally his camp class size is 15 to 16 students. During the coronavirus pandemic, Sanders has kept his class sizes smaller, 8 to 10 students to ensure social distancing and safety precautions.
Having students outdoors in some ways outweighs the risks of possible COVID-19 exposure, he said.
Sanders said children are affected in a lot of ways by not having the social interactions that they were used to in school.
He said his camp offers a way for them to make connections with other kids.
Sanders said the parents tell him they can see positive changes in their kids’ behavior and sleep patterns when they come to camp after being quarantined for two to three months.
“This camp has helped kids with depression, meltdowns and attention deficit disorders,” Sanders said, adding that some kids have been in camp for three to four weeks in a row. “The parents are very grateful. They hold the role of both parent and teacher, and it’s difficult on them.”