Tag Archives | Leadership and Management

Showcasing the Dream at the AEOE Conference – Dawn Cook

When High Trails was approached by Amanda Martin last spring with the offer to have the AEOE (Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education) Southern Fall Conference at our site, we thought “Why Not? It might be kind of fun.” Little did we know just how fun it would be. 80 outdoor educators + a crisp […]

Taking Applications For Granted – Driz Cook

I believe in not taking things for granted. In the early years of High Trails, staff would start to talk about the next school year and I would stop them in their tracks. “If there is a next year” I would counter. “If students learn, have fun, and stay safe this year”. I would keep […]

Your Name? I Don’t Have A Clue – Haley Cushing

Instructor: “Ok, who can tell me an example of a renewable resource?” Unnamed Student Raises Hand. Your mind goes blank. You look down at your attendance sheet. Back at the student. Back at the attendance sheet. Nothing. Their name? You don’t have a clue. Embarrasing. Instructor: “Umm… yes… you.” This has happened to everyone. Whether […]

A Story of Wolves and Rivers – Shane Hyre

“Let me tell you a story of wolves and rivers,” I tell my students, “…Gray wolves of Yellowstone were one of the earliest species in North America to be considered endangered in 1967. Gray wolves had been hunted down to near extinction until they became protected. Then environmental agencies and organizations tried ‘reintroducing’ only 21 […]

Do You Hate Managing? Chris Wright

At High Trails, we have lots of staff members who at some time or another have to manage people. We have Directors, Coordinators, Head Cooks, and several Collaborators. Within that group of around 15 people, only a couple have had formal training in how to manage others. The rest of us showed we were good […]

Rules of Management: Book Review by Alex Kaklamanos

My dad then turned to me and said, “I have to fire this worker. I remember when I was in high school and my dad showed me a picture on the front page of the Charlotte Observer (NC) of construction workers on scaffolding moving a giant organ into a church. He was excited to show […]

I Am the Youngest Administrator Here – Sarah Wood

I am one of three Medic Coordinators at High Trails, which, in a nutshell, means I am in charge of student health and safety for the duration of a school’s stay here. At 23 years old, I am the youngest of the High Trails administrators, in addition to being one of the youngest people on […]

It’s Nice To Share: Chris Wright

A little while back I got a call from another local outdoor school asking if they could come talk to us and pick our brains to help them figure out some of their current staffing and scheduling issues. The cynical and business-minded side of me thought “Why would we want to share our success with […]

Who are these “Support Coordinators”? Noel Leon

The Coordinator is an active manager of daily operations, ensuring that the program runs smoothly and efficiently. The Program Coordinator provides a vision, plan, and leadership for program development, training, and performing evaluation on staff. Here at High Trails we have 4 coordinators and 2 program coordinators. These coordinators make sure operations run smoothly so […]

How to Manage Your Peers – Carolyn Tallman

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. -Mahatma Gandhi Throughout the years I have had the opportunity to lead a variety of groups ranging from students to peers. Figuring out exactly how to communicate to your peers as an administrator can be a delicate task. Thankfully […]

One Shift Two Shift Redshift Blueshift - David Nakic

Here's a question: how can you use 3 cars to explain why stars are different colors? This is our constellation Orion. The chart highlights which stars are red, white, or blue in...

Let's Go Play - Rebecca Babel

“When the only open spaces you’ve seen are parking lots, and you’re used to hearing screeching tires instead of rustling leaves, a simple patch of woods can be an astoundingly liberating experience.” – Gregory Michi...

What it Means to be an Evergreen - Shannon Lowes

As an instructor at High Trails Outdoor Science School, I get asked a lot of questions from curious students. If I do not know the answer, I will do some research to both further educate...

Can A Formula Predict Floods? - Anne Sweney

“From where we stand the rain seems random. If we could stand somewhere else, we would see the order in it.” –Tony Hillerman For people living in climates that are dry and arid, understanding the water...

The SKINny on Shedding and Molting - Becca Baiers

This is my dog, Meg. I love everything about her. Except for the clumps of hair that accumulate in the corner of the kitchen, or end up on my clothes as I rush out the door. But...

Can Science Teach You To Be Nice? Sarah Wood The hardest job kids face today is learning good manners without seeing any - Fred Astaire I had a strange encounter at the grocery store the other day. The man in front of me in the checkout... 10 Fun Facts about Astronomy - August Walsh Like many other children, when I was about 8 years old, all I wanted to do when I grew up was to be an astronaut, which helps explain why all of my favorite movies have... How Do You ACT Environmentally Aware? - Jaimie Spetseris It’s my favorite environmental class at High Trails, and one that instructors are guaranteed to teach the most. In my mind, Environmental Awareness is the glue to all the pieces, the backbone to why care... Environmental Justice, Air Pollution and California - Leslie Urban Our job, as outdoor educators, is to figure out ways to inspire our students, get them excited about the environment, and make a lasting impression. In order to do this, we have to figure... Life Lessons from the Appalachian Trail #1: Alex Kaklamanos On November 7th, 2009, I made my way to the summit of Springer Mountain, Georgia, ready to begin my Appalachian Trail through hike. The plaque there read: "Appalachian Trail: A Footpath for Those who seek... Two-Wheeled Simple Pedal Machine - Michael Gibson Me: “So, ladies and gentlemen, what is an alternate mode of transportation?” Student: “Bicycle!” This is the typical response I receive when prompting students about alternate forms of transportation. It is great that students recognize the bicycle... Big Picture Lesson #1: Nature Is Not the Enemy - Danny Walden Here at High Trails, it is apparent to us that most of our students have had no real contact with nature before their experience with us. One of my students recently commented that the trees, freshly... Comprehending Crepuscular Creatures - Jessica Landgraf "All right, ladies, what do you know about animals active in the night"? I ask this question to begin a class taught after sunset. The class, Nocturnal Nation, is designed to empower students to begin overcoming... Sierra Snowpack Water Facts - Mark Kerstens Here at High Trails we live and work in the San Bernardino Mountains. While beautiful and incredibly diverse, our local mountains pale in size, height, and snowpack when you compare them to the vastness of... Is This Real? Carolyn Tallman All too often I hear these words uttered by friends, family, and strangers. Here at High Trails, we lead an interesting and unique lifestyle. We laugh until our stomachs hurt, live and work in the... Morphology Makes You a Science Wizard - Jenna Ikwe Mennen “Who knows one characteristic of a mammal?” says every High Trails instructor, once a week. “Warm-blooded!” answers an eager student, remembering to raise their hand only after already blurting out the words. Now, how do we... Why do male seahorses give birth? Joanna Leach When teaching students, have you ever gotten a question that stumped you? If the answer is no, then I applaud you on your vast knowledge of everything. For the rest of us, we can make an... Keeping Promises - Chris Emme Maybe we did learn everything we needed to know in Kindergarten. Being a good teacher means being a good person, but, despite the simplicity of an idea like honesty, it is incredibly difficult to embody... Toothpaste: Show Don't Tell - Kelsey Wentling Once inside the cabin, everyone shivers off their jackets and eagerly starts buzzing around the warm haven: home for the next three or four nights. Soon after, buzzing turns to chatting and not far off chatting... Myco-what? Harnessing Fungi - Chehala Andriananjason Fungi finally get their 15 minutes of fame here at High Trails as we teach our class Little World. This is just fine with me, as fungi were hugely important to my family’s world when...

Popular Parent Links

Special Concerns: Information and form for special situations. Health Consent Form: required for every student attending High Trails. Medication Form: required if a student is bringing medication to High Trails. Discipline Form and Packing List: general information to prepare for your trip. Forms Video: check this out for a visual explanation of our forms. Printable Parent's Guide: used in lieu of the online Parent's Guide. Menu: a weekly list of the food up here.

Trail Games #1- Kyle O'Dea So what do you do while hiking with a large group of students through the forest? Play games of course! Here at High Trails Outdoor Science School we have an arsenal of games we... Guided Questioning: Turning Wah into Wow - Mark Kerstens Ever have a cool fact, idea, or concept that comes up as you hike that you want to share with the students? These teachable moments happen all the time, and are a great way to... Props: Can’t live with them, can’t live without them… Shane Hyre If you talk to anyone in the outdoor education business – talk about props. Talk about the rubber chickens, the stuffed animals, the rope, the spots, the foam thingies… props have been the underestimated “magic... Don’t Rain on My Parade! Shannon Diaz Have you ever had to teach students while outside in the rain or snow ? Here at High Trails, we hike and teach our students in three different seasons with all sorts of weather. Whether we... Morphology Makes You a Science Wizard - Jenna Ikwe Mennen “Who knows one characteristic of a mammal?” says every High Trails instructor, once a week. “Warm-blooded!” answers an eager student, remembering to raise their hand only after already blurting out the words. Now, how do we... Ode to Button-Pushers - Alex Rice Do you know the student who throws a stick when their instructor isn’t looking? The one who goes past the boundary their teacher very explicitly creates or breaks the rule that was thoroughly reviewed three... Toothpaste: Show Don't Tell - Kelsey Wentling Once inside the cabin, everyone shivers off their jackets and eagerly starts buzzing around the warm haven: home for the next three or four nights. Soon after, buzzing turns to chatting and not far off chatting... Why We Lorax - Penelope Burgess “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, it’s not.” –Dr. Seuss What is The Lorax? Every Friday morning at High Trails Outdoor Science School, groups of 40-120 5th or... Frontloading and Debriefing - Shannon Diaz “On your mark, get set, go!” “Huh? I don’t even know what we’re playing!” Have you ever tried playing a game or doing an activity that wasn’t explained completely or didn't make sense to you? This can... American Sign Language in Science - Sarah Beery How do you teach science to a deaf student if sign language doesn't have a way to sign the word? Science is its own language with all the varying terms ranging from photosynthesis to camouflage to... Growth Mindset - Alicia Imbrogna Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. -Tim Notke How many times in your life have you encountered a situation that was frustrating or annoying and often appeared too difficult to overcome? Have... Flip Distractions into Discussions: Verbal Jiu-Jitsu- Alex Eisenreich You are a Teacher. So you probably know that Random Tangent Student. The one that takes extra prompting to engage in class; the one that needs redirection to stay on task; the one who doesn’t volunteer... “Whatever GRABBSS their attention...” - Shane Hyre Team Discovery Hike: it's the first activity you do with your field group on their first day at High Trails. It's time for the group to discover who you are, where they are, and what... Analogies are to Teachers as Utility Belt is to Batman - Hollyann Duskin A streak of light burns bright and brief across the night sky. A collective gasp comes from the group of students huddled in the darkness as they exclaim, “a shooting star!” As we discuss that shooting... Scientific Method in Everything - Leslie Urban In sixth grade I remember losing a spelling bee because I did not know how to spell ‘hypothesis’. Our science teacher, Ms. Miers, had spent the entire fall semester pounding the Scientific Method into our heads... Your Name? I Don't Have A Clue - Haley Cushing Instructor: “Ok, who can tell me an example of a renewable resource?” Unnamed Student Raises Hand. Your mind goes blank. You look down at your attendance sheet. Back at the student. Back at the attendance sheet.... Improv-ing Education - Cass Language Friday afternoon— busses are delayed due to snow, and you find yourself with 15 students for an hour longer than you expected. Or maybe your boss tells you to lead a 10 minute activity for... Teaching with Music - Jordan Rowell "Alright class, it’s time to earn our beads for our Furry Friends class. Let’s review what you can remember about adaptations of mammals. John, tell me at least one characteristic of a mammal?" Uhhh…. Uhhh oh is... 3,2,1, Bonus Point! Caroline Blake “Single file line in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” This is what I shout to my students within the first 5 minutes of their arrival. The kids scurry to get into the best line that they... Building Communities - Jess Fangman “This needs to come from your heart,” I said in a soft tone. I watched anxiously as 12 different sets of eyes peered back at me in puzzlement. I had asked my cabin group of sixth... A Unique Class is a Memorable Class - Paul Adams A few weeks ago, I was attending a music festival in Santa Barbara. As I was walking around the camp ground, I met a man named Brian who invited me into his camp. We had... My Former Self - Shannon Diaz Have you ever thought back to when you were in fifth grade? What was the world like for you then? I remember when I was in fifth grade, and getting ready to go to Camp... Why Visit A Classroom? Tamara Perreault Working at High Trails, I quickly became a proponent of teaching outside. There are a lot of clear benefits. In California, class size is almost always 20 or more, but our groups are rarely more... Home - Tamara Perreault What makes a place a home? This can be a tough question. Think about it for a moment. When you say, “I feel like I’m at home” what makes you feel that way? 2,000 years ago... Science Fiction Is a Teaching Tool - Jake Sheaffer As instructors at High Trails we are constantly trying to relate the material that we teach back to the student’s daily lives. Sometimes this is difficult, because not all students understand why topics like...

Food Waste & The Clean Plate Club - Sam Farrell Food waste is one of the most important things students learn about here at High Trails, but it is also easy to overlook. While most people don’t consider it to be a big deal, as... Where Have All The Monarchs Gone? - Melissa Mercier Monarch butterflies are amazing insects; they can change from caterpillar to beautiful winged creatures! What you may not know is they perform a second and equally amazing feat... Monarch butterflies perform a four generation long trek... Steller’s Jays: The birds you hate to love - Shannon Pappas When I say that I don’t always like Steller’s Jays, my students are always shocked. I, of course, understand where they are coming from. I remember when I first came to these mountains and was immediately... How Plants Can Be Medicine - Canot Walker High Trails is located at 7000 feet in the San Bernardino Mountain Range, and one of the first topics we learn about in Team Discovery Hike is who lived here before us. The Yuhaviatam arrived... Mars InSight Lander - Karen Solange Fraser Mars’ latest lander, InSight, launched in May 2018 and landed in November 2018. At approximately 5 feet long and 20 feet wide, it features two solar panels, two cameras, and three scientific instruments with a... Snake Reproduction - Mallory Schmackpfeffer When we talk about snakes, the assumption that we make is that all snakes reproduce by laying eggs, but that’s only part of the story! The truth is that only 70% of snakes lay eggs... Seed Dispersal of the Black Oak - Davíd Valencia Did you know that one of the largest populations of all Black Oak trees in southern California is in the San Bernardino National Forest? [1. Tyler, Claudia M., et al. “Demography and Recruitment Limitations of... Contour vs Downy Feathers – Frazer Winsted It is the middle of Feathered Friends class. After discussing that there are multiple feathers on a bird consisting of contour and downy feathers, one of my students says: “Mr. Frazer, what is the difference... Non-flowering Plant Reproduction: Conifers – Ryne Tobar Of the classes I get to teach at High Trails, my favorite is Plant Detectives. Plants are incredible organisms. While they might be immobile, plants are able to propagate, or reproduce, far beyond their immediate vicinity. When... Plastic is the New Black – Lillian Johnson Do you know what you're wearing? When discussing the natural origin of materials with students, discovering that plastics are typically made from crude oil – the same fossil fuel used to power our cars –... Benefits of Rock Climbing - Peter Le People ask me if climbing is a good way to stay in shape; I tell them I stay in shape to be good at climbing! Why do people climb? That is the question all instructors ask... Purpose of Pupils - Allison Hanson Over the summer, I went hiking with some students at summer camp. On the trail, we ran into a woman taking her goats out for a walk. Yes, GOATS. Goats are great. I was then... Over the Moon...Cycle - Suzanne Bosman “The common theme of calendar making is the desire to organize units of time to satisfy the needs and preoccupations of society. In addition to serving practical purposes, the process of organization provides a sense,... Outdoor Education & Line Dancing - Jade Koenigs When I say the words “Line Dancing”, the faces of my students scrunch up into a mixture of emotions. Some voice excitement, some voice disgust, but most faces bare the unmistakable feeling of apprehension, scared for... Can A Formula Predict Floods? - Anne Sweney “From where we stand the rain seems random. If we could stand somewhere else, we would see the order in it.” –Tony Hillerman For people living in climates that are dry and arid, understanding the water... We Don’t Need No GPS! Brad Brainard The day is September 11th, 2014. I am standing face to face with a weathered and worn wooden sign on the top of a mountain in the middle of Maine. The sign reads, in big,... Diggin Deep into the world of the Thatch-Mound Ant - Kyle W. Gray What is that mound thing? When sauntering about in the San Bernardino National Forest you may notice large mounds or domes made of grass, leaves, pine needles, and numerous other plant materials. What exactly are these... Replenishing the Water Cycle - Kevin Williams Did you know the scientific term for the water cycle is the hydrologic cycle? I was on a hike the other day and thought about the apple activity I do during our Water Wonders class to... Bird Sounds of Spring - Danny Walden Spring is here, and it's an exciting time! Our bird friends in the San Bernardino mountains begin to sing, and these year-round populations are complemented by a whole new host of migrants. To many people,... The Spirits of the Water: Loons - AleXANdra Barteldt There is a loonie legend about a small lake in rural Maine named Flying Pond. As the story goes, the Native Americans of the region returned to the northern lakes every season for fishing and... Archery in North America - Hannah Livezey As staff members at High Trails, we are offered opportunities to visit other outdoor schools and exchange ideas with others in the outdoor field with hopes to deliver the best possible curriculum to the students... Speak Like A Yuhaviaatam - Ikwe Mennen You're staying in the Condor cabin? I think you mean Qwat cabin! Yuhaviaatam means “people of the pines” in their own language. They are the native peoples who lived on top of our mountain, in the... Welcome to Subirdia: Book Review - Mark Kerstens Ever wonder how our ever growing suburbanization and development affects wildlife populations? Have you heard that urban development is exclusively bad for bird populations? I thought so, too, until I read Welcome to Subirdia by... Rock Climber or Amateur Geologist? - Michael Perez Is igneous bliss or are all the little sediments of rock knowledge metamorphosing climbers into rock experts? Ha! As rock climbers, we experience many different types of rocks when we go to climb at various crags... Bald Eagles and Their Comeback! Brandon Bortzer In 1963, scientists estimated a total of just 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles survived in the lower 48 states. The emblem of the United States since 1782 and the only eagle endemic to North America,...