Flaunt Vermont

Brynn hopes that these girls will have a deeper appreciation for themselves and the wilderness that surrounds them.

Background Information

Brynn Kent was born in the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, a large city. She was never exposed to the wilderness in Malaysia and stayed in the city, living her life as a preschooler, heading to school and coming home to play in the pool. Brynn moved to Singapore after a couple years, again another big city. Growing up, she would occasionally head to the U.S. to visit family and see something other than skyscrapers and paved highways. It was there, in Massachusetts that she became fascinated with the outdoors. The falling leaves, falling snow and sprouting flowers. Eventually, Brynn’s family moved to Middlebury, Vermont, where she currently lives today. She never got as involved in the outdoors as she wanted to. Brynn took it for granted and never fully pushed herself to go and see what was beyond the trails or what creatures hid in the tall grass. As she got older, Brynn began to push herself into the outdoors little by little, but it wasn’t until she went to the Alzar School, where she was able to fully immerse herself in the wilderness, did she finally begin to see herself in a new and more positive perspective. Through the outdoors, Brynn was able to build self-confidence that she hadn’t built as a child, there were parts of herself that she hadn’t yet opened because of the lack of experience and push to explore when she was young. Throughout her journey through elementary school and then middle school and even high school, Brynn was in need of the self-confidence and self-understanding that she gained through nature and venturing into the wilderness. Brynn wants to provide girls with these experiences while they are still young so that they might be able to have a deeper connection with the outdoors. She wants them to be able to grow up with a stronger sense of self-confidence and self-identity that she didn’t have as a young girl. By bringing them into the outdoors and showing them all the different aspects, adventures and creatures it has to offer, Brynn hopes that these girls will have a deeper appreciation for themselves and the wilderness that surrounds them.

“Through learning about the wilderness that surrounds us and developing a connection with the outdoors, girls will be able to have a meaningful appreciation of the wilderness and a stronger will to push themselves and explore things that interest them”
– Brynn Kent

Implementation of the Project

After Brynn had completed the majority of the work behind her CLP, she created an email to send to the parents of the girls who she thought would come to the camp. It was hard to say everything she wanted to say in a short and concise email. After spending a couple hours getting it together, she made a poster for “Flaunt Vermont” that was attached to the email, just to give them a visual as well. Brynn expected the hardest part to be planning out the actual Action Day and implementing it, but she was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t. For the actual preparation session, she asked her action team to meet her so that they could discuss and plan out the entire day. They all had plenty of ideas to bring the table and the planning session took half the amount of time and stress she had originally thought it would take. Both members of her action team offered all the help they could and neither of them ever slacked off on anything that she asked and needed them to do. They both stepped up to the responsibilities she gave them and took her CLP seriously and she thanks them for this.

Results of the Project

The Action Day was by far the most fun part of the CLP for Brynn. With 11 young girls participating and three high schoolers leading them, the entire day was on schedule and went according to plan. They started off with a name game and some games, had a scavenger hunt, a presentation on apple trees, a walk to the pond, a discussion on an object that described them and finally, a picnic with a debrief. Brynn received some incredible feedback from the girls, saying that they loved it and asked for her to do it again. got some amazing responses, they loved it and asked for me to do it again. Brynn thanks, both members of her action team for being all-stars on the Action Day. They helped with the plan, took videos and pictures during a certain activity, and helped lead the debrief at the end of the day. She definitely had them to thank for the day running so smoothly. Overall, Brynn believes that her project was a great success.

What’s Next

Brynn hopes to hold another Flaunt Vermont day in the fall of 2017. She will continue attending Middlebury Union High School for her senior year until she graduates in 2018 and will most likely head to college in the North East. Brynn would love for Flaunt Vermont to continue and hopes to hand down the responsibility to someone in the class below her.