SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Local middle schoolers left their desks behind and strapped on snowshoes this week to explore their own alpine backyard. Tuesday and Thursday they discovered snow crystals, avalanche dog training, winter animal adaptations, and other hands-on educational experiences.

One eighth grade student said, “Don’t tell my teachers, but yeah, this is way better than school.”

The field trip took around 270 South Tahoe middle schoolers on the Heavenly tram to the mountain top where interactive learning stations were waiting. Some of these stations involved snowmaking, tree measuring and at one, students learned how to dig someone out of an avalanche and meet Vader, the black Labrador ski patrol dog.

The science driven days out were organized by the South Tahoe Environmental Education Coalition consisting of about 20 partners, including the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Sierra Avalanche Center, Tahoe Institute for Natural Sciences and the Sugar Pine Foundation to name a few, all dedicated to providing environmental education to Tahoe youth.

Tasha Thomas with the Sierra Avalanche Center says she saw the hands-on learning make snow layer and safety concepts click for the kids , “When they got to go over to the snow wall and touch and feel that and bounce it around in their hands, it made a little bit more sense to them.”

A grant from Vail Report’s EpicPromise program helps the coalition provide this field trip for the students.

Through the experience, kids also learned about potential opportunities for their futures like taking high school first aid or going to college for free to obtain an EMT certificate for ski patrolling at Heavenly.

This is the tenth year providing this opportunity. Alissa Zertuche, career technical education specialist for Lake Tahoe Unified School District says this is just one of many educational experiences the coalition organizes for students throughout the year, “We’re grateful to all of our partner organizations for creating curriculum that aligns with science standards and brings science to life.”