How I Started a Successful Outdoor Club at My High School

I was 11-years old when my family moved from urban Springfield, Illinois to the mountains of rural Winthrop, Maine. My parents took advantage of our new home by sharing the beauty of the Maine outdoors with my older brother and I. Together we saw the stars on Monhegan Island, hiked North Brother Mountain and camped across the state.

When I moved to Winthrop, I assumed that everyone skied, camped or fished, but the reality was that many of my peers didn’t have the means, time, or opportunity to explore the outdoors. To help, I reached out to a teacher to talk about starting an outdoors club; we worked together to draft a proposal to send to the principal. On the upside, our school's administration was cooperative and approved the request. And while they were excited to get an outdoor club going, they could offer no funds aside from transportation. We initially decided to plan adventures nearby, taking advantage of hikes such as Mt. Pisgah, but remarkably, a grant from Teens to Trails via the Maine Department of Education allowed us to participate in activities such as ice fishing, Adventure Bound, and a camping trip to Camden with no financial burden to students. 

At the start of the school year, our new guidance counselor, Sarah Hubert, stepped up as the advisor for the club and helped coordinate outings and meetings. I made announcements over the intercom, spoke at our monthly assemblies, highlighted the outdoor club during a segment on our schools news show, and talked to my peers about how to best promote the club. 

Thanks to our promotion, students eagerly joined and we had our first camping trip to Camden Hills State Park with Teens to Trails in October. It was a fun filled weekend where my classmates and I hiked, talked and even worked together to make bread on a stick over a fire.

We aimed to have one trip per month and will continue that goal into the next year. We will also talk to our school board about expanding our funding to accommodate more trips such as rock climbing and kayaking so we can have another great year!

Interested in starting an outdoor club at your Maine middle school or high school like Elsa? Join the Teens to Trails community and we’ll help you get started!