Collaboration and Adaptability: The Tickets To Getting All Maine Students Into Outdoor Education Programs

In 2010, Drew Dumsch, President and CEO of the Ecology School, took the first steps toward an ambitious goal of ensuring every student in Maine had the chance to go to outdoor school. These programs are multi-day, interactive trips that teach students the fundamentals of environmental science in coordination with school curricula and state education standards.

Dumsch knew that reaching this objective would require more resources than the Ecology School alone could provide, so he partnered with the University of Maine’s 4-H Camps and Learning Centers and the Chewonki Foundation to form what was initially called the Environmental Living and Learning for Maine Students (ELLMS) program.

Over the years, the program blossomed into a widespread collaborative of outdoor school providers. Yet, despite more organizations joining the collective, far too many students throughout the state still lacked access to outdoor programming — so Dumsch and his partners took their efforts to the next level.

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