Needs
Classrooms Unleashed: Combines in-class, grade-specific science lessons with an outdoor field-study experience led by our experienced educators during which students examine and gather evidence. Students head to local nature sites like the American River and Deer Creek Hills where they can become ecologists, geologists, and watershed scientists. The program includes six different units, one for each grade, and uses hands-on, experiential and outdoor education as a framework for young people to study, think, and learn. Funding helps us offset the cost of programming for schools and teachers.
Overnight Outdoor Learning: A multi-day adventure for fifth or sixth-grade students to immerse themselves in outdoor science at our 515-acre Grizzly Creek Ranch camp in the Sierra Nevada mountains (40 miles north of Lake Tahoe). While the educational goals are drawn from state and national standards, SNJ digs deeper to provide Social Emotional Learning opportunities in our challenge course and team problem solving experiences. Funding helps us serve schools on a sliding scale of fees so that all schools can participate regardless of their ability to pay.
Family STEM Nights: This unique and innovative after-school program invites kindergarten through sixth grade students, their parents/guardians, and their siblings to participate in an interactive two-hour Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) event based at school sites that foster parent engagement. Funding supports educator time and the purchase of supplies for these events.
Specialty Camps: We host unique, specially designed camp experiences at Grizzly Creek Ranch during weekends and summers. We fundraise to offer scholarships for our Summer and Family Camps. For example, we collaborate with Women in Tesla (WIT) to put on a Girls in STEM camp for middle-school aged girls from Title-One schools each year. The camp uses Sierra Nevada Journeys’ STEM programming and WIT volunteers for a unique weekend of team building and outdoor exploration.
Volunteers to help guide local field trips are always needed and shows the young students we serve that their community cares about their exposure to science and the outdoors.