For 5th graders at Highland Park Elementary, it’s the trip of a lifetime – traveling across Puget Sound for outdoor education. But every year, teachers and community members have to raise money to make it happen. This year’s trip is almost here and they still need help, and asked if we could let you know. From the crowdfunding page:

Highland Park is a unique place. We are a Title I school that serves an extremely diverse population with 80% of our students receiving free or reduced-price lunch. Many of our students speak more than one language and bring rich, cultural backgrounds to our community. The wide spectrum of learners creates a distinctive environment where we are happy to teach and grow with our scholars.

Each year, we have the pleasure of taking our fifth graders on a trip to IslandWood – a school in the woods on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle. During the four-day excursion, students are exposed to many things that they have never seen or done before, beginning with the ferry ride across Puget Sound and extending throughout their time on site. The staff at IslandWood provides an authentic, engaging learning experience. Every year, we get to watch our students learn in a way that cannot be provided inside the four walls of a classroom. To see the transformation under which many students go when they step beyond the world they live in is nothing short of inspirational. We love seeing those ‘lightbulb’ moments when our scholars click with learning in new, indescribable ways. Not only is the trip to IslandWood a fun-packed adventure, but it shapes the fifth-grade community upon our return as well. We create a close bond and build deeper relationships that greatly improve our ability to rise to the demands of fifth grade.

We want every student to be able to take this trip and have the opportunity to do something completely outside of their normal routine. However, while all the benefits of IslandWood are impossible to quantify, they do come with a price tag. This is where we need your help.

As teachers of Highland Park Elementary, we want to raise money to subsidize the cost of IslandWood so that every student can afford to come, and the only way we can do that is with your support. The last two years, generous donations helped pave the way for our students to have this powerful experience and we want nothing more than for this year’s scholars to receive the same opportunity.

Please consider donating to this trip and help us change the lives of these fifty-eight scholars.