In this valley, it’s easy to take experiential education for granted, since it has been well-established in Aspen and Carbondale schools for decades. Teachers and administrators, though, put in significant time and resources to maintain experiential ed programming.
Desiree Pimentel of Basalt Education Foundation (BEF) is one of many people working to make experiential education accessible in Basalt. It is Pimentel’s second year coordinating outdoor and experiential ed for Basalt schools. Her coordinator position is new, created when Basalt Elementary Principal Grant Waaler and fellow educators noted the pressure they faced to maintain an outdoor education program without the capacity to do so.
Basalt teachers greatly support outdoor ed, but lack adequate time to plan and facilitate it. Pimentel’s job is to create a full progression from kindergarten through high school. Since 2022, she has been working to formalize the schools’ existing opportunities and expand them with support from community partners. What started as a 10-hour-per-week position has evolved into a full-time role.
Basalt Elementary offers more than just Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) weekly environmental classes. Starting in kindergarten, every grade engages in multiple single-day programs, with significant support from local organizations. All Basalt Elementary experiential ed is free, with gear provided for sport-oriented excursions. Local business Umbrella Roofing sponsors the second grade Wish for Wheels bike day, which gifts bikes to the kids who need them. For the fourth grade ski day, Aspen Skiing Company ensures that every student has equipment.
These day trips focus on trust-building with both students and parents. Establishing comfort with new experiences early helps establish a growth and challenge-by-choice mindset toward learning. One of the most popular programs is ice skating. Colorado Extreme Hockey hosts a Basalt Elementary grade each Wednesday at their Carbondale rink all season. Per Pimentel and Waaler, because this is also open to parents, there has been excitement all around as families embrace the opportunity. In some cases, parents are learning to skate alongside their kids. Principal Waaler emphasizes that one of his favorite things about these programs is “getting these families without the resources involved … it has opened the door for them with a lot of things.”
Pimentel explains that these positive associations in elementary school help prepare kids and parents for middle and high school programming. This is particularly true for families to whom formalized experiential ed is a foreign concept. “At every age level, we see a little resistance from some parents. They don’t necessarily understand the point of sleeping in tents for fun, which makes sense if they never have. We reassure parents about the safety.”
She elaborates “We want to make sure we’re approachable to everybody,” not just to families who already know about and eagerly support the programs. For some parents, the additional programming is the last thing on their minds. “We have a lot of newcomers, recent immigrants who are already facing culture shock and learning a new language.” For those students, adjusting to their new school is experiential education in itself.
Basalt Elementary’s most established experiential ed program looks and sounds quite different from the Roaring Fork Valley default concept. The school’s Dual Language Bilingual program is entering its 30th year. Previously optional, the program became schoolwide in 2021 due to its popularity. Instruction is 50/50 between English and Spanish so students learn to step into curiosity and discomfort before they ever set foot outside the classroom, regardless of their primary language at home.
In middle and high school, Pimentel and in-school coordinators broaden experiences to overnight, starting with one-night trips in fifth and sixth grade and increasing to two-night, three-day trips for older kids. Basalt Middle School Vice Principal Molly Tiernan heads up her school’s programs, with two trips per year per grade. She and Pimentel are excited for this year’s new eighth-grade trip; BEF is funding an excursion to Ouray, where students will complete the via ferrata, a protected climbing route.
All high school outdoor ed trips go out during the same three days in late September. “Outdoor ed takes at least three times as many resources to facilitate as normal education,” explains Pimentel, so it is easiest for teachers and administrators to have all trips go out simultaneously. ACES and the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association support one-night hut trips for ninth-graders. Basalt High School (BHS) and BEF are looking into two-night options because “as students have done more outdoor ed, they need and want more challenge.”
Like other Valley high schools, BHS offers its teenagers options. For now, those are specifically sophomore year. Sophomores choose from various adventure seminars, ranging from hiking 14ers to the Smiling Goat Ranch trip, which is split between farm therapy and an adventure day in Glenwood Springs. Juniors do college visit trips, with every student visiting at least one school, even if college isn’t part of their plan. Allotting this time for post-school planning is valuable to get students considering options for their future. Seniors do a retreat trip; this year, they’ll go to the YMCA in Estes Park.
Pimentel speaks with excitement about the growth of Basalt’s programs. A BHS and NOLS graduate herself, she loves “seeing engagement with kids when they try something new. When kids who are scared put on skates and actually try it out for the first time, that’s so special.”
Waaler is quick to praise her, emphasizing “all these great things we have available are thanks to Desiree. We wouldn’t have these opportunities without her hard work.”
Both foresee continued expansion of Basalt’s programs.