About the Programs
The Calapooia Watershed Council has been offering and running residential Outdoor School programs since 2011. Outdoor School is a 3-5 day program for 5th or 6th grade students to leave their classrooms behind and learn in the great outdoors! Students participate in real-time outdoor science experiments and studies, team building activities, archery, campfire programs, and much more!
During outdoor school, many students experience a lot of firsts, like staying in a cabin overnight, attending a campfire program, and getting up close to the natural world. Outdoor School programming also encourages students to communicate and collaborate with each other, learning more about themselves and others. Outdoor School has also been proven to show benefits such as improved student comprehension in science and math, an increase in student motivation and participation, and meeting national and state learning standards.
CWC also works with school districts to offer high school students the opportunity to volunteer at outdoor school as cabin leaders and activity instructors. High school leaders have also benefited from this program by gaining professional experience in environmental education and residential camps. High school leaders have also been shown to gain confidence in public speaking and leadership abilities.
- This Spring (2021) will be our 10th Year of Outdoor School
- Served 1,650 6th graders and counting!
- This year we will serve 764 6th grade students!
