For the health of our kids: Get them outside
The outdoors offer an incredible, accessible, and rewarding environment for learning and healing. Children learn best by doing, and teaching them outside unleashes their desire to learn by engaging their natural curiosity about the world around them. Being outdoors also calms and comforts children, which is a balance needed in today’s world.
Washington State Legislature Passes House Bill 2078 in a bipartisan vote!
Some students or maybe all need different learning to connect at times. Basic education, get ready “Outdoor School For All” is here! Like many, “Learning By Doing” and “Experiential Education” is a type of education that can release mounds of potential, otherwise enclosed by four walls and industrial seating.
To those that supported this legislation, thank you. HB2078 passed 92-5!
What does this mean? Every 5th or 6th-grade kid in Washington will have the opportunity to go to a residential outdoor school for multiple nights. Their adventure and curiosity about the outdoors will expand with their peers beside them. Kids will get to be kids regardless of their economic status. Everyone will deepen their knowledge of the natural world. From this, we know empathy for one another will grow to care for each other and our communities. It is a day to celebrate; we made outdoor education a priority!
A continued support will be needed by all of us. As we obtain supplemental funding and yearly increase to meet the “Outdoor School For All” mission. It will be under the eyes of legislation and we must continue to represent the importance of this work. In the 2022-2023 school year our bill was able to increase outdoor school in not only overnight programs, but day programs. This led to a massive increase in attendance and the data is building, real change for students are positively happening.
It’s what we already knew! Time in nature and being amongst peers is essential to basic education. Please join our coalition or support us financially as we continue to strengthen our advocacy to protect this bill.
Sincerely,
Chase Buffington
Cispus Learning Center - Director
Washington Outdoor School Consortium – Chair
E3 - Board Member
“I strongly believe that every single person should be able to feel what we all felt that week and just enjoy learning in the outdoors."
Rita, 8th Grade
All kids deserve a week in the woods
Outdoor School for All believes that every Washington child should be able to attend Outdoor School. We need your support to make this happen. Join us!
What is Outdoor School?
Outdoor School is typically a multi-day, hands-on, residential science education camp for students in 5th or 6th grade. Students share cabins, sing songs and eat together while studying the flora, fauna and natural systems found there. Many programs utilize high school students as volunteer “junior counselors” under professional guidance to teach science modules and help care for the younger students.
Benefits of Outdoor School
Improved graduation rates
Improved behavior in school and relationships with peers
Higher academic achievement
Critical thinking skills
Direct experience of scientific concepts in the field
Leadership and collaboration skills
A deeper engagement with learning, place, and community
Along with mastering subject areas, high school students who volunteer as junior counselors are challenged to inspire and lead in addition to being exposed to future careers in education, natural resources, and the sciences.
Why Outdoor School for All Washington students?
Equity: The benefits of Outdoor School are clear, yet currently most BIPOC and low-income students lack access to these programs. Outdoor School for All would ensure every student gets these transformative experiences.
Environment: Washington and the world face daunting challenges including climate change, pollution, and resource depletion. Outdoor School for All would prepare the next generation with the skills, understanding, and knowledge to solve these tough problems.
Economy: Outdoor School for All prepares young people for careers in the sciences, education, and natural resources, as well as giving them critical collaborative skills—helping them become prosperous and contributing adults.
A short History of Outdoor School in Washington
Whether called outdoor schools or environmental education centers, Washington state has a long history of providing essential outdoor education experiences for school students. One of the state's first programs began way back in the 1930s! Since that time, more than 20 organizations have formed, including two boat-based programs, that now provide multiday programs for thousands of kids each year. Yet, only about 30% of Washington students benefit from this incredible opportunity. We believe all Washington students deserve a week in the woods! Don’t you?
“It is the type of learning that draws in all kids and is an experience they will always remember.”
Sue Sander, teacher and IslandWood program participant
Outdoor School in Washington: Now More Than Ever
Washington has long offered high-quality residential camp experiences – at the shore, on mountainsides, in the woods, and even on boats. Washington was one of the first states, in the 1930s, to offer residential, science-based education in its public schools (Camp Waskowitz).
The magic and value of outdoor school comes from bonding with a group of peers and counselors, deepening students’ science knowledge and connection to nature, strengthening collaborative problem-solving skills, and seeing the positive impact students can have on their environment and communities.
Get Involved!
