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Background
A program of Winter Wildlands Alliance, SnowSchool is the nation's largest on-snow winter ecology education program. SnowSchool is conducted across diverse nonprofit sites that share one important quality: a desire to expose children to the fun and wonder of their winter environment. SnowSchool sites include unspoiled national forests, regional parks, vibrant nature centers and preserves, colleges, universities, and some of the nation's most spectacular national parks.
Each SnowSchool site works with local schools to offer field trips focused on winter ecology. Winter Wildlands Alliance provides support and logistics to SnowSchool sites, getting them up and running and providing an approved science curriculum for use out on the snow. The Atlas Snow-Shoe Company provides free snowshoes for the children, teachers and chaperones.
Leading up to the day of the field trip, students participate in classroom instruction about what they'll experience out in the snow. They explore topics such as identifying wildlife tracks, measuring snow depth or analyzing water content. Then guided by education specialists, biologists, park rangers and other experts on-site, students experience real-life ecology lessons at one of the SnowSchool sites around the country. Back in the classroom, the students review what they learned and participate in follow-up projects.
SnowSchool is an effective, inexpensive outreach tool for local schools and site partners—it touches the lives of thousands of kids each year, including many in underprivileged communities. SnowSchool's impact on students is great—they come away from the experience with new knowledge of the world around them. Many of the kids go on to become enthusiastic snowshoers for life.
"SnowSchool wouldn't be possible without the continued support of our sponsors: Mountain Safety Research, and Marmot."
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