While discovering her love for the outdoors, Devyn Reynolds has gained a new sense of identity and confidence.
As a newly appointed ambassador on the nonprofit group Women Who Explore, the Upper Campus librarian and 10th grade English teacher is now helping other women experience the outside world and discover themselves on a level which only the wilderness can provide.
The Ojai Valley School outdoor education program is a crucial part of Ojai Valley School’s key curriculum, and Ms. Reynolds embodies why it is so important.
Many students come to OVS with no prior camping experience, but that doesn’t stop them from diving head first into the world of the outdoors. This is exactly what happened to Ms. Reynolds. She started at OVS with only a few RV trips with her family under her belt. The lack of experience did not hinder her as she was thrust into the action of her first major outdoor adventure, which was the Utah honors backpacking trip in 2019.
From the first trip, she understood why camping and outdoor education was such a priority for OVS. “You get to be in nature, you get to be in the outdoors, but you also have the community aspect of it,” Ms. Reynolds said. “You have the students bonding, and this allows us as faculty to connect to you on a different level than in the classroom.”
Upper Campus Outdoor Education coordinator Zach Byars believes that the outdoor education program has allowed Ms. Reynolds to come out of her shell.
“I love on trips when she shares her love of comic books and her background that you wouldn’t hear in her english class or in the library,” he said. “Her ability to connect with the kids outside of a classroom environment, she has definitely opened up.”
Her love for the outdoors has led her to pursue her passion outside of OVS.
Ms. Reynolds is doing this through the program Women Who Explore. Women Who Explore is a North American organization, based on volunteers in local communities, whose goal is to create opportunities for women to explore the outdoors. Ms. Reynolds wanted to use the experiences that OVS has given her to spread the joy that the outdoors has to offer by applying to be a Local Ambassador.
To the surprise of no one who knows Ms. Reynolds, she won the nomination of local ambassador.
“Determined” and “gung ho ” are the words that Mr. Byars used to describe Ms. Reynolds.
“It gives almost an outreach opportunity,” he explained.“Young female leaders having a role model to look up to, and seeing the Lynn Hills of the world, the climbers, the surfers. To have that connection and to see what young women and men are capable of doing.”
Now that Ms. Reynolds is officially a local ambassador, she has a full schedule ahead. After she completes her zoom training conference, she has to plan a minimum of 6 trips a year in Ventura county for women looking to get outdoors. The goal is for her to reach out through social media, and create a group to make trips based on the interests of the women in the area.
Inspiring fellow women is something that Ms. Reynolds has a love for. She is able to combine this with her love for the outdoors through Women Who Explore, but also through OVS. In fact, she led her first base camping trip at OVS on May 18, which was an all girls trip. These all girls trips are something that she would like to continue at OVS and ma
ke them a regular fixture of the Outdoor Ed program.
Ms. Reynolds will be a big part of the OVS community for a long time to come. She is grateful for the Outdoor Ed. program of OVS and what the program offers to the community.
“The experiences I have had here have been really great for me, and I want to give those opportunities to women who may not have gone camping, and hopefully they will discover something about themselves and how much they enjoy it,” Ms. Reynolds explained.