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Contact: Alanna Sobel, National Park Foundation, 207 796-2538
Contact: Jay Elhard, 207 288-8807
BAR HARBOR, ME – Acadia National Park is one of 32 parks and park partners to receive an Open OutDoors for Kids Hybrid Learning grant from the National Park Foundation (NPF), which works in partnership with the National Park Service and the park partner community to ensure that national parks reach their fullest potential and connect with as many people as possible. Acadia’s grant will support the development of virtual nature clubs, family nature adventures, and virtual spring field trips. A full list of grantees can be found on NPF’s website.
“With support from this grant, educators at Acadia and the Schoodic Institute will collaborate on an ambitious series of outdoor, place-based programs,” said Superintendent Kevin Schneider. “We’re learning that it can be challenging to develop a program that is interactive and engaging through a virtual format. This grant provides us needed support in connecting parks and learners.”
Acadia and Schoodic educators already have led about 600 virtual programs since the last week of September.
With more than 400 parks across all fifty states and the U.S. territories, the NPS traditionally hosts more than 60,000 in-park and distance learning education programs annually, serving over 1.8 million students.
Recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted how and where students are learning, NPF collaborated with the NPS to facilitate a program design workshop in September 2020 with leading experts in evaluation, digital programming, community engagement, and national park leadership. The goal being to advise on how NPF and NPS can meet the needs of students, teachers, schools, and communities during these uncertain times and how lessons learned can be applied in the long-term. The workshop led to the Open OutDoors for Kids Hybrid Learning program, an extension of NPF’s Open OutDoors for Kids Field Trip program.
“National parks are America’s largest classrooms, and the National Park Foundation is committed to helping students, teachers, and families navigate learning during the pandemic and beyond,” said National Park Foundation President and CEO Will Shafroth. “From green time to screen time to family time, the National Park Foundation is helping the National Park Service and parks community engage students with educational opportunities across the country.”
Acadia’s grant will provide support to create, pilot, and refine interactive programs that connect students and their families to Acadia experiences and resources:
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Pilot weekly virtual nature clubs for grades 3-8 in a local school district
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Create fun, educational, and socially distanced outdoor activities for families, such as scavenger hunts and pop-up self-guided trails
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Adapt a set of spring in-person field trips to a virtual format
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Create a new virtual program series for families and special needs audiences.
Since 2011, NPF has engaged more than one million students in educational programs connecting them with national parks across the country. Earlier this year, NPF announced its goal to connect another one million students to parks over the next four years. Thanks to private philanthropy, including support for Open OutDoors for Kids from Union Pacific Railroad, a premier partner of NPF’s Youth Education and Engagement initiative; Winnebago Industries Foundation; Niantic; Sierra; Columbia Sportswear; Parks Project; The Batchelor Foundation, Inc.; Humana; and many individual donors, NPF is investing nearly $1 million in the Open OutDoors for Kids Hybrid Learning program supporting communities across the country during the 2020-2021 school year.
Learn more about NPF’s efforts to engage students with national parks as classrooms.
The National Park Foundation works to protect wildlife and park lands, preserve history and culture, educate and engage youth, and connect people everywhere to the wonder of parks. We do it in collaboration with the National Park Service, the park partner community, and with the generous support of donors, without whom our work would not be possible. Learn more at www.nationalparks.org.
Last updated: April 22, 2021