English department teacher and Wild Women Outdoors co-sponsor Meg Vanderbilt poses with her club members outdoors at Hard Labor Creek State Park. Vanderbilt founded the club on Sept. 10, 2024 because she wanted to socialize with others while out in nature. “As much as I love a solo hike, I do enjoy hiking or camping with other people from time to time,” Vanderbilt said. “So it was kind of a way to make the club I wanted in high school and give that to (students). It was just a way to hang out in nature with nice people.” Photo courtesy of Meg Vanderbilt
Wayfaring women
Wild Women Outdoors, a CCHS club created at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, was established to help students gain more confidence to explore the outdoors safely.
The Wild Women Outdoors club was created by co-sponsors and English department teachers Meg Vanderbilt and Grace Ayer to develop an educational and inclusive environment for any Clarke Central High School student interested in hiking.
Vanderbilt is a Trail Ambassador for the Athens-Clarke County Trails and Open Space and after noticing there were primarily men on her hikes, she wanted to help young women and gender-nonconforming people feel more comfortable doing outdoor activities. WWO club member Mimdabi Bhuiyan, a sophomore, felt welcome during the club’s first overnight camping trip on Nov. 2, 2024 because of this approach.
Clarke Central High School English department teacher and Wild Women Outdoors Club co-sponsor Meg Vanderbilt stands outside the CCHS breezeway entrance with a WWO poster on Oct. 23, 2024. WWO was created for young women and gender-nonconforming people to decrease the obstacles between them and hiking, from a lack in knowledge about the outdoors to safety concerns. Photo by Emlyn McKinney
“With all (of the members) being girls, there’s no embarrassment if one of us is on our periods (or) changing,” Bhuiyan said. “We could all share a bunch of (clothes), and (our camping trip) felt really personal because we all had the same experiences.”
With meetings every first and third Tuesday of the month, Vanderbilt, Ayer or a guest speaker educate students about topics like trail safety to help them feel confident and safe on hikes.
“Safety is a big hang-up for people (new to camping), so the more educated and the more experiences you have, the more comfortable you are doing things,” Vanderbilt said. “I would love to see members take their love of the outdoors and grow it into something they do after high school.”
Additionally, WWO provides students ways to rent camping gear and receive scholarships for hikes or overnight camping trips, which are partially funded by community donations.
“There’s a lot of kids who don’t have the money to experience (camping) and I don’t think it’s fair (that) because you don’t have money, you don’t get to go on trips,” Bhuiyan said. “You still should be able to experience it, just like everybody else.”
“Safety is a big hang-up for people (new to camping), so the more educated and the more experiences you have, the more comfortable you are doing things.”
— Meg Vanderbilt,
WWO co-sponsor and CCHS English department teacher
Vanderbilt hopes more CCHS students will feel comfortable enough in WWO to try outdoor activities they’ve never done before as the club grows and develops.
“(I want to introduce) as many people as possible to the wonders of the great outdoors, knowing that it’s not going to work for everybody, but I think if someone does have an interest in trying out outside, (WWO) is a really safe space for them to do that,” Vanderbilt said.
Appreciating nature: Q&A with English department teacher and Wild Women Outdoors co-sponsor Meg Vanderbilt
English department teacher and Wild Women Outdoors co-sponsor Meg Vanderbilt stands outside of the Clarke Central High School Breezeway on Nov. 19, 2024. She help found WWO as a way to share her knowledge of and passion for hiking with others. ““When I’m (on trails), I’m usually (by) myself or with one of my dogs, and there’s never another woman on the trail,” Vanderbilt said. “It’s always guys, which is fine, but I really wish that more women were feeling safe on trails and in the outdoors.” Photo by Kimberly Sanabria-Amaya
Wild Women Outdoors, a CCHS club created at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, was established to help students gain more confidence to explore the outdoors safely.
Graphic Designer Kimberly Sanabria-Amaya: About how long have you been thinking about making the Wild Women Outdoors Club?
English department teacher and Wild Women Outdoors Club co-sponsor Meg Vanderbilt: Probably since the end of last school year, I’d say. (I) really didn’t commit to doing anything until around the beginning of this school year and I was like, ‘School has started. I need to either do this (now) or wait.’ I really didn’t wanna wait. I just decided to take the plunge and it’s been an interesting process going through approval with the board, (Clarke County School District Superintendent Dr. Robbie P. Hooker) has to approve a club application as well as Dr. (Swade) Huff. Going through board approvals for the camping trips has been different than the Humane Society Club, like the requirements for sponsorships there. It’s been an interesting experience and luckily, everybody so far has been pretty receptive and encouraging. Everyone’s approved everything so far.
Digital Editor Lea D’Angelo: How did you come up with the idea to start the club?
MV: I hike most days after work, but I’m always by myself. So, I don’t see other solo women on trails even here in Athens, so that can get kinda lonely. As much as I love a solo hike, I do enjoy hiking or camping with other people from time to time. So it was kind of a way to make the club I wanted in high school and give that to you guys. It was just a way to hang out in nature with nice people. Then, of course, facilitate time where girls can feel safe and comfortable in the outdoors and grow that sense of love for nature too. That’s super important, but also, just having buddies outside is cool.
“I just want as many people as are interested, I want them to feel like they can come and join us at any time because that’s really what it’s about. It’s opening up doors to allow people to experience the wonder that is the outdoors.”
— Meg Vanderbilt,
WWO co-sponsor and CCHS English department teacher
KSA: What sorts of activities do you do in Wild Women Outdoors?
MV: So far, we’ve done group hikes and we’ve done one camping trip. Then at our club meetings, we have guest speakers mostly. So, that’s what we’ve gotten to do thus far but, it’s really just getting the club’s feet off the ground. We’ve kind of kept it pretty simple. But as we progress and get a little bit more comfortable with what the girls want the club to look like, any outdoor adventure is fine as long as we’re allowed to do it.
LD: You talked a little bit about guest speakers and club meetings. Can you talk a little bit more about what that has looked like?
MV: Yeah, that’s been really fun so far. We’ve had somebody come in and talk about native snakes. He brought some non-native, non-venomous snakes so that we could actually hold them after we learned about what would hurt us. Then, we had a scholar from (the University of Georgia) come by and he is doing his thesis on Hard Labor Creek State Park, where we did our first camping trip. He was able to give us some really interesting historical looks into the park, as well as tips and tricks on being there and what trails are best. We had him, we have Heather Matherly coming up next week. She is an expert naturalist, but she is also a forest bathing guide. So, she’s gonna come in and talk to the girls about experiences and nature, like meditating, being one with the trees and the kind of cheesy stuff. I think it’ll be really interesting and it’s just a different perspective less on survival, camping, building fires (and) more on just being here and being with this amazing creation. We have several other speakers lined up for the rest of the year. We’re gonna do a mushroom foraging informational session sometime in the spring.
KSA: How do you decide where to camp?
MV: I was looking for something within about an hour of Athens and Hard Labor Creek had a really nice-looking and large group campsite for a pretty reasonable amount of money. It checked all the boxes; I really liked that the site we rented was pretty private and it came with a bathroom. I thought that was really important for our first trip.
A map of Hard Labor Creek Regional Reservoir is shown.
LD: What does prep look like for these trips?
MV: Lots of spreadsheets on my end. Lots of GroupMe messages. Lots of reminders and just lots of planning ahead for things that people don’t tell you about. So, we brought an extra two tents and three sleeping bags on the past (camping) trip. We didn’t need those things, but we did need one of each. It was just nice to have. Those donations that we got really helped to make sure that even if somebody forgot something, we still had it extra so that everyone was comfortable and warm, and nobody had to go home.
KSA: I heard safety was a big part of this program. Can you tell me more about that?
MV: Safety in the outdoors is definitely a huge part of this whole vision (of the club). I think one of the reasons that women in particular don’t get outside is because if they don’t have somebody else to go with them, they just won’t go solo, and I get that. I understand where the hesitation is. The outdoors has changed my life for the better in so many ways and my passion for sharing that with people, that’s why I wanted to start the club. But again, a big part of feeling comfortable and wanting to go outside is having basic skills for when you are in the backcountry.
Wild Women Outdoors club members pitch tents and set up camp at Hard Labor Creek State Park. Photo by Meg Vanderbilt.
KSA: Do you all decide on what activities to do? Is it just between the sponsors or is it a collaboration between the members, as well?
MV: Up to this past camping trip, it’s just been myself and the other sponsors, which would be (CCHS) Nurse Jackie Coyle, (English department teacher) Grace Ayer and (Communities in Schools Site Coordinator) Dana Scheffen also was on the camping trip. It’s been conversations between the adults thus far. However, after the first camping trip, the girls have requested some different types of camping and different activities. So, as much as we can facilitate that, we will. Doesn’t matter to me, as long as we’re outside.
LD: What kind of activities did the girls in the club request?
MV: They wanted a multi-day camping trip and so we’re looking at doing something at Vogel State Park, which is up in Northeast Georgia, and they have a group campsite that is a hike-in campsite. It’s about a mile to the campsite and you have to carry all of your things in a backpack, basically. It’ll be interesting to be at a backcountry site for more than just a night. It’ll be interesting to be with the girls for more than just one night. Everything went so smoothly on the first camping trip. But when you add extra time, you never really know how things are gonna go. Especially when there isn’t a bathroom and we’re all sleeping on the ground. That’s what they requested so far, is just a longer camping trip. I think probably (it will happen) over spring break.
An Instagram post about a Dec. 17, 2024 Wild Women Outdoors club meeting in which members learned about first aid is shown. Post by wildwomencchs
LD: Are there any challenges you guys have had, whether starting the club or continuing the journey?
MV: Not that I can think of. I’ve done a little bit of fundraising through my networks and we’ve gotten the gear that we needed for the first camping trip. We’ve gotten donations and things like that to purchase the campsite and sleeping bags and things that we really needed. Like I said earlier, the approval process for the club went really smoothly. The board approval for the camping trip went very smoothly. So, no obstacles. People have been really generous. People have been very supportive. I really thought that I would turn in the application and Dr. Huff would say, “What are you-? This is crazy. No, absolutely not.” But he was like, ‘I wouldn’t wanna do it, but good for you!’ He’s just been really, really supportive, and so has everybody else. So, no real obstacles yet. Fingers crossed.
KSA: Where do you see this club in the future?
MV: I would love to do at least two overnight camping trips, or some sort of overnight trip every year, one in the fall and one in the spring. Then, just continuing with our little weekend adventures. Whether it is rock climbing, or hiking, canoeing, or whatever. I just want as many people as are interested, I want them to feel like they can come and join us at any time because that’s really what it’s about. It’s opening up doors to allow people to experience the wonder that is the outdoors.
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