Our year of Trail to Every Classroom (TTEC) activities that began at the Len Foote Hike Inn included a week of training and fun at the National Conservation Training Center in West Virginia, our final training at Hot Springs, NC and implementation of ideas at our two elementary schools throughout the school year.
We hosted AT record-holder Jen Pharr Davis to kick off our Appalachian Trail studies. Kids virtually hiked the trail by reading or walking at school. They wrote letters to real AT hikers and received letters back. They learned about all 14 states through which the trail passes and used online resources to find out about birds, plants and historical sites that are part of the trail.
At Upward, families visited learning stations to complete activities about different regions of the trail and then students spent 21 days in an AT read-a-thon that culminated in a visit from Walkin' Jim Stoltz, long distance hiker and musician extraordinaire. Two top readers won kids' trekking poles from LEKI and we received support from local outfitters Diamond Brand and REI.
We also partnered with Bullington Horticultural Center to plan and implement two summers of Nature Explorers Camp. During the school year, 3rd grade students worked with Master Gardeners, Carolina Mountain Club members, and the director of Bullington to study invasive-exotic plants and engage in service learning projects to remove problem plants at Bullington and along the AT in Hot Springs, NC. We received a grant from TTEC to take the kids to Hot Springs and get their research published in a brochure for the whole community. An anonymous donor was inspired by TTEC and provided another grant so that we can continue to engage students in service learning next year. We plan to do a separate blog with highlights from this amazing year and then get back to more hiking!
