Woodstock, Illinois is known for its role as the location for Groundhog Day, home for Orson Welles in his formative years at the Woodstock’s Todd School for Boys, and home to Dick Tracy.
Although it is not an entry in the Outdoor Club.
Chuck Little, an environmentalist, Sun City resident, and educator, started an outdoor club over 50 years ago at Woodstock High School, changing lives of students.
Little said, “I got the idea while completing my Master’s at Northern Illinois University. I was introduced to adventure education by Professor Dug Wade. He was involved in a graduate program at Dartmouth, in which students went on many camping trips as part of their course work.”
This inspired Little to give birth to The Woodstock High School Outdoor Club (WHS ODC) in 1969. Trips and activities included camping, hiking, and rock climbing, skiing, rafting, canoeing biking, and backpacking, and days trips for an outdoor adventure.
Little said, “The school board approved a summer program for credit called Operation Outdoors. This course took students on trips to various places.”
Over the years that the club operated, over 2500 students participated in this initiative.
Over 2500 students participated in the Littles’ adventure club. (Photo provided)
Michael Ward said, “Chuck Little and the WHS ODC was my gateway to the Outdoors. Because of him, I have great respect and reverence for the natural world. Also because of my experiences, my kids grew up in the Outdoors. They were on ropes climbing railroad bridges at the ages of 5 and 7. None of my adventures would have ever happened if I hadn’t gone to Woodstock High School in the early ’70s. Chuck made me the outdoor person I am just by being Chuck.”
Bob Page, a past student also said, “Chuck Little did an amazing and highly unusual thing in the early 1970s. Chuck Little and his supporters at the time had a vision for the Woodstock High School community to lead an awakening in the local youth community. It was to develop personal reverence through participation in the outdoors with a student social setting. Chuck led a small group and obtained a surprising commitment from the school board members to generously invest in a student-run organization that would soon get students into the outdoors. The organization quickly became, by far, the largest and most popular student organization in the school. Good things about me, who I have been, and who I am today, were shaped, at least in part, by what I learned through the social and personal opportunity afforded by my early times in the Woodstock High School Outdoor Club. I have never forgotten it. It is cherished memories.”
Kelly Redemske said, “What we learned through The WHS Outdoor Club has shaped our lives. My husband and I may not have even met if not for the ODC and The Littles. Taking care of the environment and living our lives enjoying nature we’ve instilled in our kids. Chuck and Sharon are a blessing. I can’t imagine high school or life without them being a part of it.”
Little met his wife Sharon of 47 years on one of those adventures.
Little said, “We needed female and male chaperones for each group of 10 and Sharon volunteered.”
Sharon said, “I had just gotten a job teaching in the fall of 1972 at Olsen Middle School in Wood stock after graduation from University of Wisconsin at Lacrosse. I volunteered to chaperone on one of those trips in 1973. We married a year later.”
On July 16 2021 at the reunion held in Woodstock the group gathered to recall their adventures. The 50-year reunion was postponed to 2021.
Sharon said, “Chuck and I were so happy so many came to the reunion to share memories from past trips. The Outdoor Club started at WHS over 50 years ago and several of those trips had some pretty great memories. We thoroughly enjoyed hearing all those stories from a long time ago.”
The Littles’ Outdoor Adventures continued beyond the WHS ODC. They raised four children together and took their adventures around the world.
Sharon said, “We started with Egypt and Jordan. I came away with a sense of the struggle of people just to live their lives.”
Their adventures continued to Greece, Turkey, Italy where they tried ziplining.
Chuck said, “We went to China, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and Alaska. As an environmentalist, I was dismayed to see the melting of the glaciers.”
South America, Machu Picchu, Panama Canal. Sharon said, “Africa allowed us to see so many animals, the color on birds, the diversity of a species. It was stunning.”
The travels also included Sun City friends.
Chuck said, “In 2014, we had a group of neighbors here in Sun City travel on Baltic Cruise. We do travel every other year to Florida or Hawaii. On one trip, I saw lava pouring out of volcano as a pilot gave me a close look. As a science teacher it was thrilling.”
Sharon said, “In the ODC adventures, we taught skills and appreciation for nature to our students. The challenges of people around the world are unimaginable. We heard a message that hit home. We teach them a skill so that they don’t have to beg.”
