At Santa Fe Waldorf, we take our "Think Outside." motto seriously. Students are taught to become stewards and adventurers of the great outdoors through our distinctive, curriculum-based Wilderness Education Program.
From elementary to high school, our students experience so much more than the standard field trip or overnight class camp out. Our Wilderness Education Program includes off-campus field courses in Organic and Biodynamic Farming, Forest Ecology, and Ancestral Pueblo Archaeology, among others. And on campus, students stargaze as part of middle school Astronomy class or cultivate and harvest the school’s prolific garden.
Age-appropriate outdoor education trips are either lesson based—such as discovery of Carlsbad Caverns National Park as part of sixth grade Geology & Mineralogy Studies—or pure adventure, including backpacking deep into Utah’s Dark Canyon as a junior, or white water rafting as a middle or high school student.
These outdoor experiences ground students, teach them to work cooperatively, and appreciate and protect the beauty of nature. From the first grader’s introductory camping trip on our beautiful 13-acre campus, to the unique 24-hour contemplative wilderness solo seniors complete to launch their study of the Transcendentalists and the writing of their personal college application essays, we Think Outside!
““I look back on the river trips and hiking trips we did. My family wasn’t an outdoors family. Today, I enjoy the outdoors almost every weekend living in Colorado. I can’t imagine not having Waldorf open up that world to me. The outdoors is where all my favorite hobbies live.””
““The camping trips, nature walks, and our senior solos imbibed the class with a sense of reverence for the environment—even for a blade of grass. Leaving a place the way we found it and being mindful of our presence, both during and after our visit, was impactful. Those lessons translated into many other aspects of my life. Even now, I notice it in my work, relationships, and lifestyle. Waldorf is really good at teaching conscientiousness, a skill that is becoming less common in our fast-paced world.””
““The future will belong to the nature-smart—those individuals, families, businesses, and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world and who balance the virtual with the real. The more high-tech we become, the more nature we need””
Our Outdoor Education trips include
