Exploring New Horizons Outdoor Schools at Sempervirens offers 4-5 day residential environmental education programs to fifth and sixth grade students. Sempervirens can accommodate from 150-220 students at a time at our new site in Scotts Valley.

Naturalists lead students in hands-on, place-based learning, concentrating on interdependence, cycles, energy flow, natural history, and more, deepening students’ ecological knowledge and interest in science and environmental stewardship. School groups also engage in cooperative team building activities, including family style dining, designed to build trust within and between the hiking groups and participating classes or schools. Learnings are reinforced through reflective nature journaling; drawing or nature art; participatory group songs, dances, and skits where cabin groups act out a concept they have learned during the week. Conservation is also an essential part of the experience, as students weigh and graph their food waste at the end of each meal, try to take a 3-minute shower, and participate in a mock town hall meeting.