Life Happens Outside® Challenge Winners 2024
Photo courtesy Hermon Middle School, one of the 8 Life Happens Outside® Challenge winners.
To encourage mental health awareness, Teens to Trails hosted their first ever Spring Life Happens Outside® Challenge for Maine middle schools (grades 5-8). The challenge, which took place May 10-17, is designed to get students and teachers outdoors, as research shows that spending time outside positively impacts mental and physical health.
Thirteen middle schools throughout the state completed the challenge. Collectively, these school communities accumulated over 35,000 hours of outdoor time. Students enjoyed outdoor classes, sports, time with friends and pets, riding bikes or simply being quiet in nature. All told, these inspiring school communities spent an equivalent of 4 years outside.
Thanks to the support of lead sponsor UNUM, legacy sponsor First National Bank and funding from Maine Outdoor Learning Initiative*, the top 8 schools who spent the most time outside (based on size and population), were awarded $1,000 each. The schools are encouraged to use the winnings towards outdoor programming for their student body.
“Teens to Trails hears from healthcare experts, parents and teachers that teenagers feel better on the inside when they spend time outside,” said Executive Director, Alicia Heyburn. “We heard so many amazing stories from students and faculty about the positive impact spending a week outdoors can have.”
The top 8 schools include:
Edmunds Consolidated School, Dennysville
Dedham School, Dedham
Sipayik Elementary, Pleasant Point
Pisquatiquis Community Elementary (MSAD 4), Guilford
Athens Community School, Athens
Oxford Hills Middle School (MSAD 17), South Paris
Hermon Middle School, Hermon
Lamoine Consolidated School, Lamoine
Edmunds Consolidated School, with just 25 students, spent over 40,000 minutes outside. Alison Archer, a teacher at the school, said, "I shared the news with my students and they couldn't believe that their small school could pull it off, but I told them anything is possible when we work together and believe in ourselves."
To learn more about positive mental health impacts of the Life Happens Outside® Challenge, and how your school community can benefit from outdoor time, Teens to Trails will be speaking at the Maine Department of Education Annual Summit, August 6-8, in Augusta. The talk will highlight top 8 winner, Dedham School, and former winner, Bucksport Middle School.
To learn more about the winning schools in your area, reach out:
Jennifer Hazard, Communications Manager
jen@teenstotrails.org
*American Rescue Plan Act GEER, Reverted EANS Funding received from the USDOE supports the implementation of this project. The project has an award totaling $6.6 million dollars of which 100% is federally funded and directly attributed to project implementation. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by the USDOE or the U.S. Government.