Gateway to the Great Outdoors

Students from low-income communities face significant disparities in education, health, and access to outdoor spaces. Gateway to the Great Outdoors (GGO) addresses these disparities through providing exciting science and nature-focused educational enrichment programs. GGO fills educational gaps while encouraging students to engage with nature and the great outdoors in fun new ways. Through its programming, GGO advances opportunities for students in grades 4-8 by providing hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), environmental, and outdoor education.
GGO partners with low-income public schools, in which 90% or more of the students are eligible for the federal free and reduced lunch program, to provide weekly experiential STEAM lessons, monthly nature-based field trips, semesterly camping trips, and year-long mentorship for their students. GGO works with researchers at Emory University and Columbia University to ensure the program's efficacy. Pre- and post-programming surveys found at least a 20% uptick in all domains of students' Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), a 25% uptick in students' STEAM-capacity, and much improved environmental awareness. But it's not just the numbers that do the talking. Dr. Santasha Love, a teacher at a GGO partner school, said in an interview, "When I talk to my students, they [say that they] haven't even been out of their neighborhood. They've been nowhere. They've traveled nowhere. So, to be able to say 'I'm going on a camping trip' is excellent. My students need GGO!" GGO provides resources for already brilliant students to become the next generation of scientists, conservationists, and adventurers!
Regardless of the education forum-be it in the classroom, in the forest, or at the science fair-GGO strives to inspire and encourage its students to love science and the great outdoors!