Testimonials

Teacher Testimonials

“I just wanted to let you know what an amazing time my students had yesterday!!! Your staff is amazing and made the field trip so easy on me and fun for the kids!!! I have already recommended you guys to some of my other teacher friends. Please tell your staff how great they are!.”

Vaughn Middle School Teacher

“I am very impressed with the Great Basin Outdoor School. The curriculum is well thought out and tracks very well with past learnings of the kids. The ability to do 'hands-on' exploration of subjects the students may or may not have been exposed to in the past was huge. There were many “ah ha!” moments for the kids and teachers. For the teachers, seeing the children in a different environment was enlightening. The naturalists were awesome. They had a good command of the subject matter and were able to present it to the kids in an understandable manner. They did a good job of tying all of the activities together and reinforcing central themes. All and all, I was impressed. Thanks again for this wonderful experience.”

Robert Mitchell Elementary Teacher

“ Thank you for a second year of amazing scientific experiments, and invigorating conversations on water conservation. Students had an incredible time learning about so many things like invasive species, watersheds, the importance of planting trees and vegetation near the lake, water clarity, density, acidity, and salt levels. The research boat and its staff were incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and engaging. We really enjoyed viewing and learning about plankton. Our shoreline staff taught us about the importance of keeping sediment, trash, chemicals, fertilizer out of the lake and pointed out key features of the lake and how it was formed. The field trip made a significant impact on my students that I hope will last a lifetime, creating environmentally-minded citizens. I hope to continue taking my 5th graders on this highly rewarding and educational field trip in the future."

Gardnerville Elementary School 5th grade teacher

"I wanted to say what a great experience both of my children had at GBOS...They both came back with so much to tell me about how much they learned and how much fun they had...This year though my daughter who is now in 7th grade got to do the Spooner Lake visit for the day and I got to attend."

WOW is all I can say. The naturalists were amazing. I learned so much and they were so great with all the kids. You can tell they love what they do. They spent the day playing learning games and filling the kids with more information then I am sure they even expected."

The most important thing I learned is: "what you can do to help the environment, how to keep Tahoe clean because it’s losing its clarity, we must change our ways of life to keep the earth healthy, to be confident in myself, how to measure clarity and dissolved oxygen, treat the earth with respect, how important it is to keep Tahoe clean and unpolluted, everything is intertwined so if something goes extinct it will affect everything, the water cycle and how Lake Tahoe is not as clear anymore, don’t leave litter on the ground because animals might eat it and get sick and die."

The most exciting part of forest and wildlife ecology was: "when I saw a bear habitat and learned about animals, boating in Lake Tahoe and eating plankton, dip netting in the stream, seeing a bald eagle, red tail hawk, and an osprey, the sounds of the birds, learning how animals make their call to others about danger when we learned about nocturnal animals."

Great Basin Outdoor School is: "Wild, Natural, Rocks, Is the best, Fun, Entertaining, Peaceful, Awesome, Educational, Life-changing experience, Never want to leave, The most fun I have had away from home, Best 6th grade memory EVER, Love the food, Want to come Back!"

"As you know, we are great fans of the Great Basin Outdoor School. Your work combines two things that are dear to our hearts - education in the outdoors."