Erin Sides

I am known as The Nature Girl. You can ask anyone– my friends who know me quite well, my teachers, the classmates I’ll never formally meet. And it’s true that none of them have a family quite like mine. My parents are both biologists and avid naturalists, and as far back as I can remember, our house has reflected that. Most people, perhaps, don’t have a model squid hanging above the office desk, two glass cabinets full to overflowing with rocks, a forty-year-old mud turtle in an aquarium on the kitchen island, fish specimens in the bottom of the freezer, or thousands of fireflies in their backyard. 

Growing up homeschooled and as the child of two biologists means I can identify many local species of trees, birds, and bugs, make both a fire and a shelter from items I find in the woods, tell you which snakes are harmless and which will send you to the hospital, and make both flower crowns and paint from the same plant. This zeal for knowledge has followed me throughout high school. I eagerly want to learn all I can, whether about Shakespeare, birds, structures of chemical compounds, blacksmithing, ancient histories, or how to play metal songs on an electric Bouzouki (Greek instrument).

I spent much of my childhood exploring the outdoors with my friends (pretending it was Narnia), camping with my girl scout troop, wading in the Cahaba River with our school group as my mom taught them about macroinvertebrates, and hiking with my family. The endurance I’ve built while hiking has taught me I can do anything I put my mind to, from preparing to direct a one-act play this semester to meeting deadlines for English and History papers to learning an Irish accent for my character in the play last spring.

Transitioning from largely outdoor middle school to high school was a bit of a shock. The forest stood tantalizingly on campus, but few people seemed interested in exploring it. My new friends were more likely to kill a bug in a classroom than to bring it outside, and they remarked on the ‘weird’ things I did, like picking up the algae in the lake to feel its texture or wanting to eat lunch among the trees. For my part, I wanted to convince them that the woods are a wonder-filled place to explore. Now, I’ve explored the woods at my school as well as I’ve explored the woods in my yard. Sometimes I go alone, but most of the time I take my friends with me. Even my friends who don’t particularly like the outdoors have come with me on campus hikes. We go off the trails and find our own treasure hidden beneath the leaf litter. We’ve found everything from a deer skull to a CD player from the 2000’s. We visit the ghosts in the graveyard, wade through the creek, and find old buildings. I’ve made and deepened connections with my current friends by discovering the woods with them. I am confident and at home there, and I hope that by exploring with me, they are too.

I’ve never been explicitly called ‘The Nature Girl,’ but if you called me that, everyone would know who you meant. At first, I was surprised and slightly offended that my friends thought this facet of my personality defined me more than any other one, but over time I came to realize that it’s not a negative thing, instead it is what makes me unusual and different. I’m at home in nature; it offers me a chance to connect with others, build determination, and search for new knowledge. Being in the woods gives me peace. 

I am The Nature Girl.