Parks for All Californians

These trips are integrated into a students expeditionary learning experience to provide real world learning opportunities for the content students are learning at school. For example, our trip to Pt. Reyes with 6th graders this fall featured a focus on sensory observation, the effects of screen-free time, observational drawing (that students turned into t-shirts!), and memory. These were linked to core standards in English and Science in the classroom. Leading up to the trip, students read The Giver and practiced mindfulness activities and observation in their humanities and arts classes, and studied brain, memory, ecosystems and mole crabs in science class. On the trip, students helped prepare meals, complete daily camp care chores, work collaboratively in teams on physically demanding hikes, observe tule elk, fox, coyote, deer, hawks and lots of other plants and animals not found in Oakland, stargazed and went on night hikes, and spend time at a daily sit spot where they were able to reflect, write, sketch and record while on their trip. We worked with scientists at the seashore to dig and measure the health of mole crabs as citizen scientists, observe wetland birds and hiked more than 18 miles over the week, all without phones. Students brought these experiences back to the classroom and wrote multipage narratives about core memories, and continued their exploration of the impacts of screen time, nature and science. This is an example of how natural area trips are integrated into educational experiences. 

Our trips with The MOSAIC Project, Slide Ranch, Camping at the Presidio with a partnership that features campfire storytelling with a park ranger, Chabot Space and Science Center Odyssey Overnight, Tilden Little Farm and others all are learning opportunities for students that are grade level and content aligned. 

The following education goals were met across trips: 

• Instruction in arts, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that connects the nature experiences, or environmental stewardship and/or 
• Foster stewardship of the environment using curriculum pursuant to Public Resources Code, Division 34, Part 4: Statewide Environmental Education (Sections 71300- 71305) and/or 
• Curriculum that is aligned to the content standards for California public schools adopted by the State Board of Education, including, but not limited to, the Next Generation Science standards, or the California History-Social Science Standards. 
• Healthy lifestyles and sound nutritional habits- food and meals on trips are cooked and prepared for outdoor activities and lots of movement. Family chaperones and cafeteria staff have been integral in helping with food preparation, and has provided a great community building opportunity between staff, students, and families. 
• Career pathway mentoring related to natural resource agencies, environmental-- through our Outdoor Leadership training with Revision Education.

Point Reyes National Seashore- we've run four trips over the past 14 months at Clem Miller Education Center with support with Science at the Seashore activities with PRNSA staff. This partnership for lodging, outdoor education support, and supporting staff development has been invaluable. We were able to provide trips that students missed during pandemic. 

FAM Camp California State Parks- two staff attended the OLT training in August. This provided an amazing partnership and we reserved our first FAM camp site for 2024, and the resources, community of practice, and technical skills are all things we are applying forward for this experience. We hope to send more staff next year. 

Bay Area Wilderness Training- ASCEND was the single largest lender of gear last year, borrowing the equivalent of $42,000 worth of gear with BAWT. We wouldn't be able to run trips without this partnership. 

Revision Education- we partnered for staff development that featured a youth high school leadership component that combined eight ASCEND staff members with seven high school youth leaders for a multi-day Outdoor Leadership Training that culminated in a collaboratively led 3 day/2night near Butano State Park. 

YOOTS-- YOOTS will begin working to secure transportation for all trips and provide discounted opportunities for nonprofits and Title I schools - busses has been very difficult as part of this process and we hope that this will continue to provide more support going forward. 

East Bay Regional Parks Department-- through a EB Parks collaborative, we received an opportunity to partner with the parks who provided a 3-day/2night outdoor leadership training and family camping experience, and have provided free professional development outdoor opportunities to train three staff members.

Attending FAM Camp, and other outdoor leadership trainings has been important to provide resources, framework, and knowledgeable practitioners to share resource and ideas with. Running repeated trips has allowed us to refine some of the curriculum and details, and partnering with existing organizations has also been successful. Transportation and finding availability has been difficult, as has been the greatly increased costs of booking trips in the past year. We are working with YOOTS to help alleviate some of this going forward. It has also been difficult to secure reservations at some of the intended sites (like Yosemite and Outward Bound), and are hoping to modify some of the natural area trips. We've been able to work with the Presidio to secure a block of dates the past two years through a program intended toward providing dates towards Title I schools- and hope models like this, and FAM Camp reservations, with intentionality toward providing equitable outdoor access continue to happen.