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A scavenger hunt, an outdoor BBQ, a cruise on Jackson Lake, and becoming Junior Rangers are just a few of the activities that 4th graders from Blackfoot, ID were able to enjoy during their stay in Grand Teton National Park. Annually since 2015, the Grand Teton Lodge Company has invited 4th graders from Donald D. Stalker Elementary School to enjoy a two night stay at Jackson Lake Lodge as a part of the Every Kid in a Park program. During that time, the students not only enjoyed a variety of outdoor activities but were also able to hear from and interact with Grand Teton National Park Superintendent David Vela, Acting Director of the National Park Service Mike Reynolds, the Teton Raptor Center, and other park rangers.
Every Kid Outdoors is a program that allows fourth graders nationwide to obtain a pass for free entry for them and their families to more than 2,000 federally managed lands and waters nationwide for an entire year. The hope is that students at a young age will have an appreciation for our public lands and become the next generation of outdoor stewards. We, as the Grand Teton Lodge Company, also see great value in engaging our nation's youth in the national parks. We hope that they will come to appreciate the national parks and see their importance so that in the future everyone can continue to visit the parks just as they are today.
Would you like to experience the park as the 4th graders did? Here are a few ways you can do that. Please note that some activities include a fee for each participant.
Every Kid Outdoors is an interagency effort supported by the U.S. Department of the Interior (which includes the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.