Bringing our learning from the classroom into the world is at the heart of our outdoor and global programs. Our students’ connections with one another, the natural world, and people from other cultures broadens their perspectives, increases their empathy, and transforms their lives.
Fall
Our youngest students learn the value of connecting with one another and the outdoors during the opening camp trip, and Fridays in the Field allow them to deepen those connections as they take their learning outside every Friday. Middle School students conduct high mountain research in partnership with the Leadville Rocky Mountain Biology Lab. Upper School students participate in a weekend backpacking camp trip and a week-long Desert Week trip to the southern Utah desert where they canoe, canyoneer, mountain bike, and rock climb. Throughout our program students of all ability levels develop their trip-planning and outdoors skills, focus on stewardship of the land, and push themselves to ever greater heights.
Not everyone who joins us for the first time has been camping or hiking before. Our fall trips are meant to be an introduction to the outdoors, to give our students the opportunity to learn what it means to plan for a trip, to work with and motivate our peers to reach every mountain top, and to navigate our surroundings. Students will learn to push themselves and encourage their peers to take the next step on their journey to their own mountaintops.
Spring
As the weather warms, our Lower School students head out on desert trips which have included floating the Green River and hiking. The younger Middle School students engage in rafting and backpacking adventures, while our 7th – 8th grade students seek domestic and international experiences on 10-day trips to develop their cultural awareness, connection with people and places, and comfort traveling to remote destinations Our Upper School Global Studies program offers students a chance to see new worlds, to immerse themselves in diverse cultures, and to understand how we are all connected to the world we live in. In their four years in the Upper School, we strive to take our students to at least four different countries on four continents for four weeks each year. By ending the year with longer, more challenging expeditions, our students put the arc of their learning into action and develop confidence in their own physical abilities, their contributions to the group, and their individual potential for growth.
SMS operates under special use permits from the USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.