By Jessica Vance
What It Means to Host a Full Campus at Wolf Ridge!
This week, Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center is buzzing with energy — our Outdoor School program is at full capacity!
What does that even mean?
To start, it means every dorm room is filled. Over 300 students, chaperones, and educators are calling Wolf Ridge home for five incredible days of outdoor learning and personal growth. Both dining halls are in action, running two serving lines to keep up with the crowd. That’s 4,500 meals served this week — and every one of our 320 dining chairs filled at each meal!
It also means something deeper.
Through the generosity of our donors and foundation partners, Wolf Ridge awarded $30,000 in tuition aid to help three schools experience the power of outdoor education firsthand.
This week’s schools represent the best of environmental and inquiry-based learning:
Prior Lake Savage Area Schools (Prior Lake & Savage, MN)
We’re proud to host students from Minnesota’s only E-STEM district — where environmental learning and STEM education come together to spark curiosity and real-world problem solving.
Westwood Elementary
-
5th grade, 112 attendees in 5 learning groups
-
Studying before their trip: Personal narrative & Life Science
-
Outdoor School Goals: Team building, personal growth, environmental ethics, science standards
Redtail Ridge Elementary
-
5th grade, 119 attendees in 6 learning groups
-
Studying before their trip: Life Science, Personal Narratives, Native American Life, Early Explorers
-
Outdoor School Goals: Team building, personal growth, environmental ethics, science standards
Sejong Academy (Maplewood, MN)
Wolf Ridge is honored to partner with Sejong Academy, an authorized International Baccalaureate and Title 1 school offering Korean culture and language immersion.
-
Grades 6–8, 77 attendees in 3 learning groups
-
Studying before their trip: Personal expectations, care and safety in the wilderness, plant and animal life, and environmental & evolutionary theories
-
Outdoor School Goals: Exploring the wilderness, overcoming fears of the unknown, and strengthening bonds among students and staff
Each group arrives with its own unique learning focus, but all leave with the same sense of awe, accomplishment, and connection — to each other, and to the natural world around them.
A full campus doesn’t just mean more meals or busier dining halls. It means more moments of discovery, laughter echoing down trails, and young minds seeing the world — and themselves — in a new light.
This is what full capacity looks like at Wolf Ridge: full dorms, full classrooms, and full hearts. 💚