School ski day teaches love of outdoors, more

Glacier View School has many unique opportunities in which the students can get out of the classroom and enjoy the outdoors.

Once a week, the entire student body spends at least an hour doing outside activities, either snowshoeing or skiing. The laughter and joy can be heard and seen on the children’s faces through the school’s many windows. As a student who embarks on these trips I can say nothing is more refreshing than sliding over the smooth snow with your friends enjoying beautiful views of the Matanuska Glacier when you normally are trapped in a classroom listening to lectures and staying stationary.

I love the chance to get a break from studying and get out in the beautiful creation we are blessed to have surrounding our school. The mountains and the glacier create a breathtaking backdrop to any activity we have, and the break from classes really helps me to focus the rest of the day. Skiing and snowshoeing are fun activities to do at school and have many health benefits.

Outdoor activities show kids the alternatives to the norm of spending the whole day inside watching TV or playing games and teaches them to enjoy the healthy fresh air that is just outside their door. When skiing is incorporated in classes, it ensures that all students are getting fresh air and exercise. Also, skiing really improves coordination. At Glacier View, the primary students ski without poles to improve their balance. Students are taught in kindergarten the joy of the outdoors and the importance of exercise.

Since Glacier View is a small, rural school, it makes it easier for the school to take students skiing and there is equipment for all the students. Once a year in the spring, the whole school loads on a bus and goes to one of the local lodges, usually Sheep Mountain Lodge or Majestic Valley Wilderness Lodge, which graciously allow the school to use their trails and facilities for the day. I always look forward to this day when we go to school and spend the whole day outside breathing in the fresh spring air.

The field trip ends with a whole school doing a group relay competition in which the K-12 students unite and compete doing what we all have learned to love, ski.

Doing outdoor activities has numerous benefits, including helping to regain focus, promoting exercise, improving coordination and simply getting fresh air. It could not happen if the teachers didn’t see the benefit and were unwilling to give up class time to go out with the children. The school has also been supported in these outdoor endeavors with the community’s support of donating a trail groomer and the diligence of a local family bringing a personal snowmachine to groom the trails regularly, and raising funds to purchase new equipment.

I am very thankful for the community’s hard work and the teachers’ enthusiasm to have children get out and filling their lungs with fresh mountain air, and I am looking forward to our annual whole school ski trip.

Tiffany Gerwig is a 16-year-old junior at Glacier View School.