By Jacob Cole
When something can take three teenage boys and transform them into leaders and public speakers, it is worth taking note. That is exactly what the Texas Brigades has done for my brothers and I. My name is Jacob Cole, and I hope to explain to you what the Texas Brigades has done for my family. But first the Texas Brigades are a 5-day wildlife conservation camp that teach youth about the anatomy, habitat, and needs of a specific animal like quail or whitetail deer. While learning about wildlife conservation, the Cadets are taught leadership, team building, and public speaking skills.
There are several Texas Brigade Camps throughout the state of Texas teaching about Whitetail deer, Freshwater fish, Bob White quail, Ranching, Waterfowl, or Coastal Wildlife. My brothers and I have attended Rolling Planes Bobwhite, North Texas Buckskin, Waterfowl, and Bass Brigades, some of us have been to multiple. These camps teach all about a certain facet of Texas wildlife. At Bobwhite, for example, we learned about diseases that can affect quail, what they eat, what kind of habitat they need, what predators they have, and that was just a small part of what we learned that week. We also learned different methods for data collection, which ranged from radio telemetry to habitat evaluation. We didn’t just learn about the different techniques, were also able to practice them in the field. One of the reasons that Texas Brigades is so successful in teaching teens to love the outdoors is that the hands-on learning stays long after the camp ends. The motto of Texas Brigades is “tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.”
While each camp is different, they all share some key points. Habitat management and plant identification is one subject that is huge at all the camps. At each camp they have several exercises where they highlight on the importance of plants, how to identify the best plants, and how to manage a habitat effectively. While for many cadets plants lose their importance after they get home, they are a huge part of what my family does. My mother, brother, and I are all Henderson County Master Gardeners, Beekeepers, and teachers at a local school garden. I also compete in plant ID competitions with my siblings and many of the plants we have learned about at our camps are part of the test. The knowledge that my family has gained from this program has helped us to think about plants on a broader scale, and to realize that while a plant may not be beneficial for one species, it may be vital to the survival of another.
One of the biggest skills that I have refined at theses camps is leadership, and I have seen tremendous opportunities for my willingness to step up and lead in other areas of my life. While I can see a significant change in who I was after my first Texas Brigade camp experience, serving as an assistant leader led to the most profound change in me. One trademark of the Texas Brigades is that you can earn your way back to camp by doing projects and presentations that share about your experience and advertise for the program. These opportunities range from posting on Facebook about brigades, to writing a blog post or an article, to giving a presentation to a group of people. Each project has a different point value, and the top scoring cadets are invited back as an assistant leader. As an assistant leader, it is your job to help guide the cadets, and to help them get everything done. Since you went through it last year, you know roughly what to expect. Some perks are that you get to return for free, the instructors build a better relationship with you, and you can get a scholarship. This part of Texas Brigades has really helped me to become a better leader, and I have been able to use the skills that I have learned at camp in my 4-H club, and our 4-H county council.
All in all, if you want to become more knowledgeable about wildlife, become a better leader, learn how to speak in front of a group, or just want to make some friends, then Texas Brigades is the camp for you. They are intense, so youth must be at least 13, and can be no older than 17, it is $500 for camp, but there are scholarships available. For more info you can visit their website at www.texasbrigades.org, where they have all of the info you need plus more, as well as phone numbers if you need to get in contact with them, and pictures from the past camps.
