The Summit Ranch

Blue gloves. Hemostats. A barn cat in the egg carton.

This is the Animal Explorers program, led by Dr. Ashley Baker, DVM. Kids ages 8–11 spend their Tuesday mornings here learning real animal science: not worksheets, not videos. One recent session was egg anatomy. They dissected eggs from our own chickens, identified the structures on a diagram, and used actual surgical tools.

Wayne, our trusty barn cat, supervised.

This summer's class is full. If you have a kid in this age range who lights up around animals or science, this program exists and we're already thinking about next summer.

📍 Shawnee, KS | summitranch.org

It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and most of the conversation is about adults.

So here's what it sounds like from the other side of the kitchen table.

"Just try harder."
"You're so smart, you just need to apply yourself."
"I know you can do this if you really want to."

And the kid is sitting there thinking: I am trying. I tried to get my shoes on when you said it was time to go. I tried to start the homework when nothing in my brain would grab onto the first problem. I tried to hold it together when my sister got the cup I wanted and it felt like the end of the world and I know that doesn't make sense. I tried not to cry when you got frustrated with me and I didn't know how to explain what was wrong.

When every adult in your life tells you to try harder and you're already at capacity, you don't think "I need better strategies." You think "something is wrong with me."

That's the mental health conversation we miss with kids. Not crisis. Not diagnosis. The slow, daily accumulation of trying your hardest and being told it isn't enough.

The kids who hear this the most are usually the ones working the hardest. They just happen to have brains that do the work differently than everyone expects.