By Kristina O’Hern

Special to the Immokalee Bulletin
Twenty sixth grade students and eight adult and peer mentors from Immokalee traveled to Apopka, FL on May 25 to participate in a three day educational expedition.

During the expedition, students camped at Kelly State Park as part of Florida Dreamcatchers’ annual sixth grade core program. The adventure-filled weekend was designed around Dreamcatchers’ four pillars: relationship building, experiential education, social and emotional development, and college and career readiness.

Students left their cell phones and technology at home and developed deeper relationships with one another and their mentors while engaging in new experiences such as traveling away from home without their families, setting up tents, swimming in cold springs, going indoor rock climbing, and learning about how to take care of themselves in the outdoors.

The group also learned about the most contaminated lake in the state, Lake Apopka, and the harmful effects pesticides and fertilizers have on farmworkers. The presentation was provided by the Farmworker’s Association of Florida.

The expedition ended at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) where Dreamcatchers’ volunteer and FGCU alum, Anita Muñoz-Trejo, gave the students a tour of Alico Arena, talked about her college experience, and shared words of encouragement to never give up and to always follow your dreams.

Florida Dreamcatchers Inc. engages students in Immokalee to help build aspirations by expanding their horizons and surrounding them with a multi-layered support system that stretches over nine years of their adolescence and beyond. For more information on how to enroll in the program, contact Kristina O’Hern, Program Director, at kristina@floridadreamcatchers.org or (239) 238-3094.