School Programs at Wolf Ridge

Residential environmental education has become a very important aspect of education in Minnesota. In 1970 there were no residential environmental learning centers. Today there are centers located throughout the state and the number of school children that participate each year is getting close to 50,000. Wolf Ridge was Minnesota's first full-service environmental learning center and was the first school of its kind in the nation to be accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. This special issue Almanac is an invitation for educators to consider Wolf Ridge as the location for their school's environmental education field campus. Wolf Ridge has been doing nothing but environmental education since 1971 and also developed what many believe to be the finest facility and program of its kind in the nation.

Environmental education is both setting (out-of-doors) and subject (the outdoors, seen through the perspectives of science, history, art and most other disciplines). But most of all it is a method that teaches students how to use their five senses in observing, participating in and finally understanding the world - skills which will prepare those students for a lifetime of learning.

At Wolf Ridge the natural setting is the classroom. Located on a ridge which overlooks Wolf and Raven Lakes, the Baptism River, Sawmill Creek and Lake Superior, Wolf Ridge comprises more than 2000 acres of spectacular beauty. Its wide variety of habitats and careful integration of campus buildings with the environment enhance the learning experience.

Graduating high school seniors regularly recall their time at Wolf Ridge as their "most memorable" school experience. And, as evidenced by the large number of elementary school children that return to Wolf Ridge as adults, often accompanied by their own children, it is an experience that lasts a life time.