Balarat Outdoor Education

Outdoor Education for Denver Public Schools

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Igniting Curiosity and Confidence through Experiences in the Natural World.

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🌲 @denverpublicschools outdoor ed program
👩🏼‍🤝‍👨🏻 We teach over 10,000 students annually
🏔 #getoutdoors
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March is Women’s History Month! Balarat wouldn

March is Women’s History Month!

Balarat wouldn’t be what we are today if it were for all the strong women of our organizations past!

Pictured here is Alice Sato, a Denver Public Schools science teacher who had a heart for teaching students and the outdoors!

She heard of some land owners wishing to donate their land to be used as an environmental ed center at a conference! She was very excited by that idea and took the concept to the DPS Science Department who eventually made a proposal to the School Board.

The gift of land was accepted in January of 1969 and Balarat was born! Shortly thereafter Alice became the first teacher at Balarat - one bus, one Alice - all day trips because there were no sleeping lodges, etc!

Thanks to Alice we have been able to carry on her legacy and teach DPS students about the natural world for over 50 years!!

Recognize this guy?? If you guessed Erik Hurst y

Recognize this guy??

If you guessed Erik Hurst you are correct! Erik first started hiking on these trails in Fall of 1982 as an high school intern! He since came back and has been teaching at Balarat for the past 30 years!

How did we get so lucky?!

Can we just take a second to admire and appreciate

Can we just take a second to admire and appreciate this handmade nature journal this student made at home! And how they even took the time during science today to collect a sample of the ash in the burn area to add to their journal! Y’all, we get to teach the most resourceful kids around!

Tell us what is #1 on your Travel Bucket List?! ⤵️

We could be bias but when it comes to the best cla

We could be bias but
when it comes to the best classroom ever... we might just take the cake!

“We focus on assisting youth organizations with

“We focus on assisting youth organizations with product donations to inspire children to get outside and enjoy the outdoors.”- @stormtech1977

We would love to give a major shoutout to our pals over at @stormtech1977 for the generous donations of coats and socks! These winter days just got a whole lot warmer for our students without coats, and so did our hearts!

❄️ If you had to guess.... Would you guess th

❄️ If you had to guess....

Would you guess this snowy sunrise hike photo was taken from Bonsai Point, Mystery Wall Ridge or Z Trail Overlook??

Tell us your guess in the comments! ⬇️

As you know this is Harriet Tubman the most famous

As you know this is Harriet Tubman the most famous “ conductor “ of the Underground Railroad, but there is a lot about her you may not already know!

According to the Audubon Magazine, Harriet was an unsung naturalist who used owl calls to signal the Underground Railroad. She traveled at night and used deep knowledge of the environment and wildlife to both communicate and navigate but ultimately to survive!

When we consider Harriet Tubman’s memory, we must not forget her disability either! According to NOS magazine, in her adolescence, Tubman experienced a severe head injury that caused her to have random sleeping spells as she called them, which we later found were seizures, and religiously themed dreams she did not have before her accident. She had developed this injury after she attempted to defend a freedom seeker from being recaptured. The overseer trying to take the enslaved person back to the plantation threw a weight from a store counter, intending it to hit the enslaved person, but it ended up hitting Tubman.

After ending her duties as an Underground Railroad conductor in 1860, Tubman remained dedicated to public service: she became a Union Army nurse after the outbreak of the Civil War, advocated for women’s rights, and operated a home for elderly and the poor in Auburn, New York.

Her legacy will live on forever!

Challenge hikes up Buck Point always leave the stu

Challenge hikes up Buck Point always leave the students with a major sense of accomplishment! 💪🏾 🥾🧢🎒

Monday Motivation brought you by Madam C.J Walker

Monday Motivation brought you by Madam C.J Walker ⚡️

We love it when teachers post their Balarat photos

We love it when teachers post their Balarat photos and tag us!! It just gives a whole new perspective!

@beehappyandteach we are so glad you and your class could come up and check out what a forest looks like after a wildfire!

🚨 Teachers: post your Balarat pictures and tag us so we can feature your story too!

Over 6 inches of fresh snow and bluebird skies mad

Over 6 inches of fresh snow and bluebird skies made for one magical day outside! ❄️🌞👍🏽

Sometimes you just have to change your perspective

Sometimes you just have to change your perspective ➡️➡️

From Grand Canyon National Park... “ Black Histo

From Grand Canyon National Park... “ Black History Month is a time to reflect on the trials, tribulations, achievements, and successes of African Americans.
In the 1930s, a group called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This group of men would work to build and restore infrastructure on public lands, including areas at Grand Canyon. The program was an opportunity for poor, unemployed young men to perform critical conservation projects.
The men of Company 819 built the stone wall along the rim between El Tovar Hotel and Bright Angel Lodge, improved the Bright Angel Trail, landscaped the Grand Canyon Village area and, constructed the Community Building. Other CCC companies, like the integrated 818, established trails, camping areas, and built rest houses still used today.
Though open to ALL men, minorities and specifically Black men were treated very differently among the ranks. In 1935, the CCC became segregated. Those in charge claimed that Black men wanted to be with their own race and, in order to make local communities more comfortable with these crews camping nearby, they required white leadership. This prevented Black CCC corpsmen from ascending in the ranks and directly contradicted language in the CCC legislation that said it wouldn’t discriminate based on “race, color, or creed.”
These men can be credited with so much, and it is important to take a moment to think about how their hard work has shaped others experiences on public lands. We are grateful for the efforts of the CCC and acknowledge the struggle Black CCC corpsmen went through. “

It’s important we know our history and who made these incredible public lands we know and love possible!!

This weeks Feature Friday comes from a past high s

This weeks Feature Friday comes from a past high school leader, Tish!!
Tish DMed us photos of all the great times had at Balarat! She said, “ It was always super cool to make the first tracks on a sunrise hike or to stand out in the darkness during the night walk with the snow coming down in the silence around the circle.”
We LOVE hearing your stories, seeing your photos, and sharing these memories!
DM us to be our next feature Friday!

Way back Wednesday 📸 When disposable cameras we

Way back Wednesday 📸
When disposable cameras were the norm! So fun to teach kids how to use them when they stumble upon a new discovery they want to capture!

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Contact Us

Phone: (720) 424-2940 Office: CMS Community School, Room #206, 1300 South Lowell Blvd., Denver, CO 80219

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