Our 7/8 Outdoor Ed (ODE) program has students staying in 8-person tents with ~4 students sharing the tent. These tents are maintained and set up/tore down by the students and their tent is their home base for living during the week!

Tent Groups work together to curate a six-meal menu. Students then go to Hy-Vee and price out their menu, make revisions, and then create a shopping list. On Day 1, we stop at Hy-Vee on the way to camp, purchase groceries, load our coolers, and head to camp. Students then cook and prepare their meals using two-burner propane stoves an/or the fire. Our program provides all cooking materials.

Our curriculum and learning opportunities for 7th/8th ODE are focused on giving students as much independence as possible. When students have non-instructional time (usually around meals), they are encouraged to play and explore. No phones allowed, too! We do everything we can to create a student-driven program that allows them to grow and be truly independent!

The 7/8 program teams hosts a smores night in 7th grade for parents to come see our campsite and then in 8th grade we do a full on hot dog roast and cookout. Parents also donate Friday's breakfast for our kids.

ALL Metcalf students have the expectation of being able to fully participate in our Outdoor Education programming. We partner with our HILIA faculty to be fully inclusive of our students with visual impairments or who are deaf/hard of hearing. HILIA faculty are embedded members of our program team, joining the team for those experiences.

The eighth grade experience is the culminating moment for our formal Outdoor Education programming. Students walk away from this program with a lifetime of memories and real-life applicable skills that they can use in so many situations!