Ask a UT Elementary School alum graduating from high school what they remember most about elementary school, and the answer is almost always the same: Outdoor School.
Every October, the fifth graders board charter buses and ride an hour and a half into the Texas Hill Country to Camp Champions in Marble Falls for three days and two nights that stay with them for years. For many, the trip is full of “firsts”:
first archery experience,- first time in a kayak,
- first night sleeping away from home, or
- first time camping.
“For a lot of kids, if you grew up in a city and you’ve never been in the country, that might be the only opportunity you’ve had to do these things,” says Kameron Koeffler, the school’s STEAM teacher.
What sets Outdoor School apart is that the learning never stops. Before students touch a bow and arrow, they talk about mechanical energy. A rock-climbing wall becomes a lesson in measurement, and a team-building challenge turns into real math. At every meal, staff weigh the group’s food waste and challenge students to take only what they will eat and shrink it, so kids see their impact in real time.
Students gain confidence, too, especially students who are nervous. Afraid of heights, of the dark, or of being away from home, they leave having done the thing that scared them. Kayaking is a favorite proving ground: each child paddles a solo kayak and discovers they can do it alone (in the confines of a shallow area on the lake). Months later, teachers can remind them, “Look at what you did at Outdoor Camp.” It remains a powerful motivator all year.
Students also build trust with teachers who stay close when they’re scared and make s’mores with them. “There’s a lot of research that says when kids feel they have trust with a teacher, they’ll move mountains,” Koeffler explains. They come back as a stronger community.
But these benefits can’t happen without funding. UT Elementary is a Title I campus, and the school covers nearly the full cost so every child can go. “There has never been a child in the past 11 years who couldn’t go because they couldn’t afford it,” Koeffler says. Families are asked to contribute just $50; staff, parents, and private donors quietly cover it for any child who needs it.
The school aims to raise $8,000 to $10,000 each year — $8,000 for the camp and the rest for buses. Thanks to a gift from University Masonic Lodge No. 1190 and the “40 Hours for the Forty Acres” fundraiser, this year is close to its goal. About $2,000–$2,500 is still needed to send this October’s fifth graders to Outdoor School.
You can help make sure that this fall — and every fall — a new class of fifth graders comes home with a story they’ll still be telling in high school.