Program Testimonials

“The students absolutely love this program. They are being exposed to a variety of activities that are enhancing their knowledge about the outdoors.”

–Susan Kelter: Community Relations & Volunteer Manager at Lift for Life Academy (St. Louis, Missouri)

Deborah Rogers, Ed.D.: Principal at Patrick Henry Downtown Academy (St. Louis, Missouri)

“GGO provides a critical outdoor experience for our students that we cannot provide during a regular academic program. It fits well within our normal school day and allows our students to learn practical outdoor skills and to experience the joy of outdoor activities. This has been a vital partnership that focuses on not only providing experiences to our students but also builds a strong relationship between our students and the GGO volunteers.

Camping with the fifth graders overnight and seeing their joy was one of the highlights of my year as a principal. Our students have loved their GGO experience this year, and we are so lucky to have GGO as a partner!”

Anna Russell: Principal at Buder Elementary (St. Louis, Missouri)

“Gateway to the Great Outdoors has been such a positive experience for our students thus far and we are hopeful that this non-profit can continue to support children from low-income backgrounds.

Through GGO, our students have engaged in transformative learning experiences—experiences that broaden their educational opportunities and expand their intellectual horizon. As a school leader, we know that the achievement gap is really an opportunity gap. Our children are intellectual, caring, and deeply curious human beings. Yet, before GGO, few of our students had the world experience to understand the complexity of environmental education and our natural world.

Many of our students have never had an opportunity to go camping or hiking, so Gateway to the Great Outdoors opens up a new lens for them—beyond their neighborhood. The smiles, laughter, curiosity, and energetic accounts of their trips are all I need as a principal to know that this program is having a very positive impact on my students. This program has allowed them to apply their studies outside of the classroom in a fulfilling and exciting way. Moreover, their experiences allow them to explore academic content more deeply through their real-world learning. Nonfiction texts about frogs gain more meaning when children have done scientific observations of diverse habitats.

Thank you to the staff of Gateway to the Great Outdoors for providing my students with unique learning experiences and adventures that will stick with them for years to come. We appreciate all that you do, and we are looking forward to another great semester of partnership.”

Sean Murphy: Teacher at Fiske Elementary (Chicago, Illinois)

“As a classroom teacher in Chicago Public Schools two of my biggest challenges are lack of resources and our student-teacher ratio, and Gateway to the Great Outdoors supports our classroom in both of those areas to improve the experience in the classroom for our students. By bringing in materials and dedicated volunteers, GGO has given our students hands-on and collaborative learning experiences led by mentors in a small group setting that we wouldn’t have the capacity to do otherwise. In addition, they have planned and funded trips to local museums and campgrounds that have allowed our students to transfer their learning out of the classroom and into the real world.

By participating in this program our students have developed their appreciation and understanding for the environment, which I see as an imperative given the effects climate change and urbanization will have on their generation. Students enjoy working with GGO’s mentors, and look forward to their visits into the classroom and all of our trips throughout the year. I’ve even had students who completed the program last year pleading with me to bring GGO in with their class this year and to take them on the end of year camping trip!”