Falling Into Mountain School

The end of summer marked the beginning of a new school year and with it, new Mountain School experiences and adventures!

This new season brought new instructors and familiar faces. Before Mountain School started, instructors had two and a half weeks of training, team building activities and fun. Their brains are still processing all the information that they received, but they learned a lot. During training we all had the opportunity to meet a group of great humans from the Environmental Learning Center community, share experiences, cultural differences, a variety of backgrounds, education, interest, and personalities. Here we have an environment where everybody feels welcome and appreciated.

Everyone brings knowledge in particular ways that enrich the education and learning experiences. Even fifth grade students full of curiosity and originality! It can seem routine times, but each school and group have their own personality. Each instructor has the opportunity to develop their way of teaching. It’s a constant learning experience for everybody.

Some of them are familiar with the North Cascades landscape, others like me, are still adapting to this new wonderful place. The views are beautiful, no matter if it’s a rainy day or sunny day. The blue color of Diablo Lake is always magical and knowing that it’s thanks to the glaciers, wow!

One of the most interesting things here is the weather. Don’t fool yourself with the rays of sunshine, just like that the sky can turn grey and the rain says hi once again, but that is not a problem for us to enjoy Nature. With a variety of core lessons, fun activities and nice hikes, Mountain School is a one of a kind education program. It’s a practical learning space where Nature is the real teacher.

Young people come to Mountain School with their classmates and learn to love the place where they are growing up. Our curricula is embedded back at school, too, where we help teachers meet state science standards and increase student engagement.

Through shared outdoor experiences, students connect to their larger neighborhood, relate with their peers in new ways, discover personal interests, develop leadership skills and healthy lifestyles, and improve academic success.

And because of generous donors, we can offer these programs to schools at a fraction of their cost. You cn help level the playing field, ensuring more kids have time outside and a chance to succeed in school and life, by making a donation today.

Thank you so much.