This spring, LPEF joined other community donors and awarded a Gold Star Grant to the Longfellow Outdoor Adventure Club for their Backpacking 101 summer school course. Clint Grabhorn and Lila Planavsky, Longfellow Middle School teachers and the Longfellow Adventure Club Co-leaders, shared the outcome of that week with us.

“In late June, Longfellow Middle School’s Outdoor Adventure Club was able to host a week-long Backpacking 101 summer school enrichment course for students in 6th through 8th grade. Students spent two days learning about camping gear and the skills required to safely participate in a backcountry camping trip! These skills include setting up our new backpacking tents, filtering and boiling water, organizing essential gear, and preparing for our rainy-day hikes. During the remaining three days of the summer camp, students applied their new skills during a multi-night backpack camping experience at Yellow River State Forest near Harpers Ferry, Iowa. This trip challenged students but offered many fun and meaningful memories. We hiked, fished, swam, played yard games, built campfires, tended to our camps, and finished the final leg of our trip hiking back to our bus through a gentle stormfront. Students rose to every challenge and felt great reward in their accomplishments in the outdoors. This experience was made possible through the contributions of organizations like yours. We used our grants and donations to purchase all of the gear and goods that made this trip happen!

We were fortunate enough to have our district media department follow us along on our summer adventures to create a feature that describes beautifully what we’ve done as a club with the help from our sponsors and donors. We were also able to share this news through a Facebook address, recognizing all of the partnerships that have made this club a possibility and success!”

Watch the School District of La Crosse’s highlight video of the week-long class below or directly on YouTube.