Welcome to fall Taproot! Here’s an update as we close out October:
Sprouts and ASP
We’ve relished the chilly mornings and sun-soaked afternoons full of friendly human interaction and rich nature connection!
The Taproot Kids in the Sprouts and After-School Programs have been busy building fairy communities and sand canal systems, climbing trees, harvesting mushrooms and garden veggies, playing vigorous running games, observing birds and insects, catching many species of fish, and even getting in some late-season water play.
There’s still a month of Taproot ASP and Sprouts, and then we’ll take a break for the winter. Spring programming begins on March 18, 2024. Registration is open on the Taproot website!
Foundations
The inaugural Taproot Foundations cohort has gelled into a wonderful and supportive community of learners and life-livers. Over the past three months, these 8th-12th graders have joined each other for camp outs and an overnight in the Camp Wapsie cabins, a float trip river clean-up, team-building challenges including the Founder Games, Founders’ Quest,
and climbing the Camp Wapsie tower, and monthly one-on-one sessions with Foundations leaders. They’ve defined their core values and have begun to outline goals in order to live their lives in alignment with those values. It has been exhilarating to work with these excellent young people as they realize their power to guide their own destinies!
Taproot Family Events
We’ve had several gatherings of Taproot Families this past summer and fall, and it has been great!
We’ve gone fishing, canoeing, and camping at Kent Park, mushroom hunting in Hickory Hill Park, and exploring and catching crayfish at Turkey Creek Preserve. It’s so fun getting to know families and for the kids to show their parents first-hand some of the stuff they love about Taproot.
Our September hike in Hickory Hill Park was particularly fun and interesting! 
We were accompanied by mycologist Sarah Duhon and members of the Prairie States Mushroom Club. We learned a ton about the funky and fascinating fungi that are all around, especially this time of the year!