Submitted by Fiana Shapiro
New Mexico’s diverse landscapes—deserts, mountains, forests, and rivers—offer endless opportunities for exploration. Yet, many children face financial, logistical, and educational barriers that keep them from experiencing the outdoors. At the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center (SMNHC), we are working to change that by providing immersive, hands-on environmental education that brings children out into a natural ecosystem and hopefully fosters a lifelong connection to nature.
For almost 60 years, the SMNHC has served as a premier environmental education center, offering free outdoor science programming to students, primarily fifth graders, from across New Mexico. Our programs bring students out of the traditional classroom and into the 128-acre wilderness classroom and adjacent Cibola National Forest in the east mountains of the Sandias, east of Albuquerque, where they engage in hands-on lessons in ecology, environmental stewardship, and scientific exploration.
Many of the students we serve have never set foot on a mountain trail before or been immersed in a forest ecosystem. When we introduce them to the plants, animals, and ecosystems that make up their home state, we see their curiosity ignite. They begin to ask questions, explore, and develop a sense of responsibility for the natural world. Each student is allowed freedom to connect to what is interesting and meaningful to them, based on personal interests, life experience, and cultural influences. This transformation is powerful—not just for their academic learning, but for their confidence, their health, and their sense of place.
In recent years, the Outdoor Equity Fund (OEF) has allowed the SMNHC to continue to break down barriers that prevent students from accessing outdoor education. Transportation is often one of the biggest challenges schools face when planning field trips, especially for rural and underfunded districts. With support from the OEF, we have been able to cover transportation costs, ensuring that students from all backgrounds and parts of New Mexico have the opportunity to engage in outdoor learning. In the past year alone, over 17,000 students and community members have participated in SMNHC programming.
At a time when many young people are increasingly disconnected from nature, programs like ours offer a critical counterbalance. Outdoor education has been linked to higher academic achievement, improved mental health, and stronger environmental responsibility. When we give students the opportunity to learn through direct experience—tracking animal prints in the dirt, identifying local plants, or measuring water quality in a stream—we provide them with the tools they need to understand and protect our environment.
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Our staff at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, along with the teachers and students who have been able to receive bus transportation funding through OEF, are grateful that this money was provided to us. Investing in outdoor learning is not just about giving kids a field trip; it is about investing in the long-term well-being of our state—economically, environmentally, and socially.
Our students deserve the chance to connect with the land, understand its history, and see themselves as part of its future. Hopefully, continued support will allow us and other OEF grantees to keep our programming going for more New Mexico youth into the future.
Fiana Shapiro is an Environmental Education Instructional Coordinator at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, where she helps lead outdoor environmental education programs for New Mexico students.
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Letter to the editor: outdoor education is essential for New Mexico’s future
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Submitted by Fiana Shapiro
New Mexico’s diverse landscapes—deserts, mountains, forests, and rivers—offer endless opportunities for exploration. Yet, many children face financial, logistical, and educational barriers that keep them from experiencing the outdoors. At the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center (SMNHC), we are working to change that by providing immersive, hands-on environmental education that brings children out into a natural ecosystem and hopefully fosters a lifelong connection to nature.
For almost 60 years, the SMNHC has served as a premier environmental education center, offering free outdoor science programming to students, primarily fifth graders, from across New Mexico. Our programs bring students out of the traditional classroom and into the 128-acre wilderness classroom and adjacent Cibola National Forest in the east mountains of the Sandias, east of Albuquerque, where they engage in hands-on lessons in ecology, environmental stewardship, and scientific exploration.
Many of the students we serve have never set foot on a mountain trail before or been immersed in a forest ecosystem. When we introduce them to the plants, animals, and ecosystems that make up their home state, we see their curiosity ignite. They begin to ask questions, explore, and develop a sense of responsibility for the natural world. Each student is allowed freedom to connect to what is interesting and meaningful to them, based on personal interests, life experience, and cultural influences. This transformation is powerful—not just for their academic learning, but for their confidence, their health, and their sense of place.
In recent years, the Outdoor Equity Fund (OEF) has allowed the SMNHC to continue to break down barriers that prevent students from accessing outdoor education. Transportation is often one of the biggest challenges schools face when planning field trips, especially for rural and underfunded districts. With support from the OEF, we have been able to cover transportation costs, ensuring that students from all backgrounds and parts of New Mexico have the opportunity to engage in outdoor learning. In the past year alone, over 17,000 students and community members have participated in SMNHC programming.
At a time when many young people are increasingly disconnected from nature, programs like ours offer a critical counterbalance. Outdoor education has been linked to higher academic achievement, improved mental health, and stronger environmental responsibility. When we give students the opportunity to learn through direct experience—tracking animal prints in the dirt, identifying local plants, or measuring water quality in a stream—we provide them with the tools they need to understand and protect our environment.
Our staff at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, along with the teachers and students who have been able to receive bus transportation funding through OEF, are grateful that this money was provided to us. Investing in outdoor learning is not just about giving kids a field trip; it is about investing in the long-term well-being of our state—economically, environmentally, and socially.
Our students deserve the chance to connect with the land, understand its history, and see themselves as part of its future. Hopefully, continued support will allow us and other OEF grantees to keep our programming going for more New Mexico youth into the future.
Fiana Shapiro is an Environmental Education Instructional Coordinator at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, where she helps lead outdoor environmental education programs for New Mexico students.
Related
Help us grow The Signpost.
Share with your neighbors and start a conversation in your social network.