Why Outdoor Education?

Our Outdoor Education Program uses the outdoors as a medium for learning, which allows students to:

• develop independence through self-confidence, self-direction, and self-knowledge.
• sharpen their reflective and critical-thinking skills.
• enhance their appreciation of, and respect for, the natural environment.
• discover personal strengths.
• learn how to be effective leaders and cooperative team members.

It Starts in Pre-k

The Outdoor Education Program is introduced in Pre-k and becomes increasingly challenging as each year progresses. Our Early Childhood Campus students cultivate basic skills through on-campus and simple excursions in the downtown Covington area and neighboring Bogue Falaya Park. The skills they build in these early years serve as a foundation for larger and longer adventures, as they head to first-12th grades. From canoeing classes to ropes courses, specific objectives are set for each grade as students prepare for their class trips, which begin in fifth grade.

Learning Life Skills

Each grade’s outdoor course teaches the following as the core curriculum:

• Decision-making, problem-solving, leadership
• Camping skills, weather, navigation
• Natural and cultural history
• Hazard and risk management
• Expedition behavior and group dynamics
• Group processing and communication
• Minimum impact ethics with respect to the natural environment