Challenge Details:
The Life Happens Outside® Challenge provides a way for a whole school community to spend lots of time outside for one week.
Every minute outside counts — from sports practice to dog walking, camping in the yard, or doing homework in the park! It’s best when the whole school takes part and the community supports them. We’ve had school communities host outdoor movie nights, lead lunchtime bike rides, and host school wide field days.
Dates: May 10-17, 2024
Players: Students, staff, and faculty at Maine Middle schools (grades 5-8)
Prize: EIGHT Maine middle schools with the most outdoor minutes will win $1,000 to use towards outdoor activities of your choice.
How to Enter
& Rules:
1. This contest is open to all Maine Middle Schools. Register for free to join the challenge.
2. Faculty, staff, and students in grades 5 - 8 may contribute their outdoor minutes. Make it a community event!
3. Eligible activities include anything outside! Examples: yard work, recess, picnics, building a fort, hanging out with friends, outdoor lunch, sports practice, homework, napping, or camping out!
4. Activities can take place before, during and after school, or at home with friends and family.
5. The Life Happens Outside® Challenge runs from Friday, May 10th 12:00 p.m. to Friday, May 17th 12:00 p.m.
6. Try our custom Life Happens Outside® App for tracking time (see below for details). Record minutes earned each day on this handy time-tracking spreadsheet.
7. Challenge Coordinators will tally total minutes and submit with quotes about how they promoted and supported the Challenge. They’ll also submit student quotes to track how they felt while spending more time outdoors (visit here).
Photos, with permission to republish, are also encouraged. Email pictures to info@teenstotrails.org or tag us on Facebook or Instagram @teenstotrails.
8. Challenge Coordinators submit their school tally by 5:00 p.m. May 23 through the final report.
9. Teens to Trails will calculate the winner based on total minutes divided by school population to equalize large and small schools chances to win.
10. On May 29th, the top schools with the most minutes/student (adjusted for size of school) will each be awarded $1,000. The winner should anticipate media attention, it will be worth shouting about!
Tools:
Following are all of the tools you need to participate in the challenge, including a teacher-designed spreadsheet for tracking outdoor time, a place to record how spending time outside benefited your school community, and a simple survey for us to use, so we can continue improving the Life Happens Outside® Challenge each year.
Thank you!
Downloadable Posters
Tracking Your Time
“Unum is thrilled to support this year’s Life Happens Outside® Challenge!
Together we can encourage students to build a lifelong connection with nature and their communities through the boundless possibilities that await them outside!”
-Cary Olson Cartwright, AVP of Corporate Social Responsibility
Legacy Sponsor
American Rescue Plan Act GEER, Reverted EANS Funding received from the USDOE support 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.
Life Happens Outside® Challenge Hall of Fame
2023 Winners: Wiscasset Middle School, Bucksport Middle School, Sipayik Elementary School
2022 Winners: Winthrop Middle School, Dedham School, Lamoine Consolidated School
15 schools took part in the 2022 Life Happens Outside® Challenge and spent over one million outdoor minutes combined! That’s equal to 699 days, or two years of outdoor time accumulated in just one week!