Fourteen-year-old Connor Jennings came to Booker T. Washington State Park a city dweller, having no clue how to function in the woods. Participating in the park's four-day Junior Ranger program taught him some basic skills to survive.
"If I go out in the woods and get lost, I'll know what to do with the compass," said the Hixson Middle School eighth-grader.
He was among nearly two dozen teenagers from the Boys to Men mentoring program who participated in the park's annual four-day Junior Ranger program this summer. The Tennessee State Parks program is designed to give boys and girls ages 10 to 15 a fresh look at the world around them.
State parks throughout Tennessee participate in the Junior Ranger program, with activities and age ranges depending on the park. Programming draws upon the skills of rangers and other educators to teach skills such as hiking safety, how to use a compass, insect identification and how to respond if they find themselves near a snake.
Short answer: Try not to get too close.
"Just acknowledge that it's there," said Taylor Suttles, a seasonal interpretive ranger from nearby Harrison Bay State Park. "Keep your distance, and walk away."
People are more likely to be bitten by a snake when they try to move it out of their yard, attack it or just don't realize it's there, she said.
Rangers also discussed other animals that might be encountered in the park, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor gave a lesson on geology and a Chattanooga State Community College professor taught the students about insects.
Rangers took the youths on a hike and explained how they could survive if they got lost from their group by staying on the trail. Other speakers talked about astronomy. Ranger Robert Thomas led a discussion about invasive plants and then took youth out for a project to cut down invasive plants near the park. He also led them on a canoe ride.
Beyond the basic skills that are taught, Thomas, who coordinated the Booker T. Washington program this summer, said he hopes the weeklong experience inspires youth to pursue a career in geology, animal science or being a park ranger.
"I get paid to have fun," Thomas told the kids in attendance. "When I'm out here running around, I enjoy being in the woods and programming with youth. I enjoy that, and I also get a check for it."
About local 70 teens attended the Junior Ranger program in 2017, the first summer the park hosted the initiative. The Tennessee State Parks website put the total number last year at 1,190 students in 44 parks.
Park rangers said they can also do similar programs for adults and children in groups of 10 or more. He said they do canoe rides with families celebrating reunions or gathering for picnics, but they prefer to have a group instead of doing a presentation for an individual.
The programs are at no charge because they want to showcase what the park has to offer.
"Call us and say, 'Look, I'll be out here,'" said Thomas. "We have a listing of almost 25 different programs that we can do for the general public.
Most programs center on hiking, said Thomas. The park also has team-building activities for youth and adults. Rangers can discuss birds of prey or canoeing or give an interpretive talk on Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), the educator for whom the park is named.
Suttles, the Harrison Bay ranger, grabbed attention by holding a corn snake while she talked. She said she hopes youth get more of an appreciation for snakes. Snakes don't see or hear very well, but they have a keen sense of smell.
"They are not the monsters they're made out to be," she said. "Snakes keep the mouse population down, and some snakes eat other snakes."
Several of the boys moved cautiously around the snake, but no one had nerves to pet it.
Still, Suttles' message got through to Billy Ragland, 15, who said he enjoyed the Junior Ranger program and learned a lot from the instruction.
"About the snakes, we learned that there are 34 different types of snakes in Tennessee, and only four of them are venomous," he said while eating lunch at a picnic table, just across the pavilion where Suttles did her snake presentation.
However, he said his favorite pastime is still sports and video games and he doesn't want to spend any more time in the woods than required.
"I'm not really an outdoors person," he said. "I don't like bugs and stuff like that."
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.