State grant to help make outdoor adventures more accessible to Blaine High School students
(08/06/20) Outdoor adventures is a popular environmental science class offered at Anoka-Hennepin’s five traditional high schools that often introduces students to ice fishing, camping, hiking and other outdoor activities.
Available only to seniors, students who take the elective course can earn college credit in environmental sciences because its curriculum centers around environmental education, field biology, interpersonal dynamics and personal growth. (Photo: Tim Riordan teaches belaying during a rock climbing lesson during his outdoor adventures course.)
But Tim Riordan, the life sciences education teacher at Blaine High School (BHS) who teaches outdoor adventures, said he’s noticed an alarming trend: enrollment in the winter trimester of the class is about 45 percent lower than the fall and spring offerings. And he’s pretty sure he knows why: winter activities cost a lot more.
“Outdoor activities in the winter can be tough because if you didn’t grow up doing it, there is a high cost of introduction just to try things,” Riordan said, acknowledging the costs of quality jackets, boots and gloves, and equipment like skis or ice fishing poles. “Outdoor accessibility should not be only for kids from families that can afford it.”
In January, Riordan applied for an $11,550 state grant to help offset some of those winter activity costs. Specifically, the grant would fund a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sponsored winter ecology and fish survey. But it would also provide the money to purchase a long-lasting inventory of winter gear and equipment, such as ice fishing poles, hand ice augers, winter camping equipment and shared winter clothing for students who need them. In June, Riordan learned the grant had been approved.
“I was psyched. I didn’t think it was attainable, and I couldn’t believe it when I got the email,” he said of learning the grant had been approved. “This grant will help make (outdoor adventures) available to any (BHS) student that wants to try something new.”
The winter fish survey is something that Riordan has offered for a few years in the class, he said, but has done so with rudimentary equipment. Now, with upgraded equipment, BHS students will learn the skills of ice fishing and then participate in a field day on Little Green Lake in Chisago, Minn., where they will get to fish, then examine, classify, document and collect data on the fish they catch and release, and then submit those results to the DNR.
“If the goal is to give (students) an authentic and positive ice fishing experience, we wanted to make sure we had adequate gear for every student,” Riordan said. “Kids seem to love the experience which, for many, is their first time ice fishing.”
Once the school year begins, Riordan will begin the process of purchasing the gear to build the BHS outdoor adventures winter gear inventory, even if the COVID-19 pandemic has raised questions about what in-person educational opportunities will look like during the 2020-21 school year. But he’s excited that cost will no longer be a deciding factor when it comes to registering for winter outdoor adventures.
“This grant is a really smart investment on behalf of the DNR into the Blaine community,” he said. “This will make outdoor activities accessible to all students … and will help build an ethical and engaged population of Minnesota outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen. We are just excited that the students and families of Blaine get to benefit from this investment and are so thankful to be the recipient.”