SnowSchool End of Season Report
Celebrating the 25th year of connecting kids to their local winter wildlands
“I’ll remember this day forever!”
-2025 SnowSchool student
Every winter, for the last two and a half decades, hundreds of dedicated educators and volunteer leaders in dozens of communities across the country have helped local kids strap on snowshoes for the very first time. Despite the many challenges this year, we are happy to report that in WWA SnowSchool’s 25th year, the program engaged an estimated 35,000 youth and K-12 students across 17 states at more than 70 active program sites/locations. To all our educators, volunteers, donors, members and supporters, thank you. This would not have been possible without you!
Photo by Sam Ferguson
A Powerful Dose of Nature at a Time When Kids Need It!
Did you know that the average American child only plays outside 10 min a day but logs 44 hours of screen time a week? At SnowSchool, we are working to counteract this trend by creating a positive first-time experience in winter wildlands and getting kids outside and active during the months when they are most often sedentary.
Surveys from SnowSchool sites show that two-thirds (67%) of students who snowshoed this year were first-time snowshoers, and we estimate that over half (54%) of SnowSchool participants qualified as underserved. To help reduce barriers to experiencing the outdoors in winter, we’ve worked with our partners to provide hundreds of discounted snowshoes, hands-on snow science learning tools and winter jackets for kids in SnowSchool site communities across the country.
Creating Public Fans of Public Lands!
Recently, many of us who love the outdoors became acutely aware of the fact that the continued existence of America’s public lands is not guaranteed. There is little doubt that support for public lands is precariously balanced, and largely dependent on an engaged populace who have experienced these places and understand their value. Towards this never-ending goal, SnowSchool has now engaged well over a half a million kids since the program was launched in 2001!
Beyond sheer numbers, we’ve begun collecting stories from former SnowSchool students who are grown and off writing their own legacies. If you’re needing some inspiration and hope for the future of public lands (and much more), check out “SnowSchool Grows Up” Episode 1 and Episode 2.
Photo by Sam Ferguson
Photo by Sam Ferguson
Understanding The Importance of Our Snowpack
A major goal of SnowSchool is helping communities better understand mountain snow, the source of 80% of our annual water supply in the Western US. Toward this goal, WWA hosted the 5th annual National SnowSchool Conference with over 70 educators and community leaders in attendance to learn more about our unique experiential curriculum, NASA citizen science opportunities, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Through our Snowpack Prediction Challenge, thousands of students across the country analyzed snowpack data from their local watersheds in a manner that transformed their a single field trip into a four-month science exploration!
The Journey Ahead
Of course, our successful season doesn’t offset looming challenges ahead. Here at WWA and SnowSchool, we’re continuing to do our part to address the future of public lands, snow science, and more. We’ll be back in the fall with new SnowSchool sites, new faces, and fresh ideas to help bring to life our “Next 25” SnowSchool seasons!
To all our supporters, thank you again, we couldn’t do this without you.
Photo by Sam Ferguson
