The Field Studies Experience
Field Studies trips, over many years, build upon one another to foster student maturity and skill building in a wider and wider array of natural environments. Each singular trip provides impactful opportunities for student growth. Taken together, they create a strong foundation of social-emotional skills and understanding of our broader world that students carry into their campus classrooms and lives beyond Sequoyah School.
Kindergarten-Second Grade
One of the most special and unique aspects to the Sequoyah Field Studies program is how our students begin at such a young age, kindergarten! From kindergarten through second grade, students begin learning about the flora and fauna found in nearby deserts, coastlines, and mountains. They also develop essential self-care skills that form a strong foundation for adventures when they are older.
Anza Borrego
Let’s go down to Anza B! Many Sequoyah students begin their Field Studies journey with our annual trip to the Colorado Desert. It’s the trip we all know and love with Bamboo, Burrow, and Backyard classes where every student has a parent join them for three days of exploration, palm oases, and sleeping under the stars. Students travel back to this same spot at least twice which allows them to build upon familiar skills and begin practicing their independence.
Lake Cachuma
On the Nest trip to Lake Cachuma, we begin practicing our camp skills, including using tents, helping in the kitchen, and furthering our practices of stewardship and ownership Habits of Mind. There are opportunities to learn about coastal research and intertidal zones at the Santa Barbara Sea Center.
Third/Fourth Grade
Joshua Tree
During our iconic trip to Joshua Tree, we camp between huge granite domes and strange desert plants. During the day, student groups crawl through tight and dark talus caves and practice their teamwork and communication through rock climbing. This trip provides ample opportunity to practice what it feels like to challenge yourself and how an appropriate level of “productive challenge” allows us to grow as individuals. There is also lots of opportunity for sharing meals and stories around the campfire.
Point Mugu
During the Treehouse’s “coastal year,” we head to La Jolla Group Camp in Point Mugu State Park. Students are reminded how to set up tents and keep them organized, as well as take on more of a role in cooking and cleaning up meals from the group. We explore nearby tidal pools and a freshwater grotto to consider the differences between ocean and freshwater environments.
Silverwood
Riding bikes, student agency, and practicing independence is what the Silverwood trip is all about. Over the course of four days students become increasingly confident riding and exploring using their bicycle. This culminates in an extended ride to a nearby beach, and back to camp. This is a rare opportunity for students to have a car free environment to explore beyond the campsite, push themselves, all while looking out for one another. This trip happens right at the end of the school year so it is also a celebration of togetherness as a class.
Fifth/Sixth Grade
Students begin traveling to more distant locations on these longer four- or five-day excursions. We also introduce backpacking skills on two of these trips, which opens up more opportunities for visiting wilderness areas in smaller groups.
Another new component introduced at this age is the “solo”. During solo time, students are placed by themselves in a designated area with a journal, water, and other essential items to enjoy these incredible environments alone (with periodic check-ins). Solos as a fifth and sixth grader last around 45 minutes and increase in length as students get older. Eventually there is an opportunity to complete a 48-hour solo as an 11th grader. During these grades, students will also travel to Sequoia National Park, in the fall, and a winter lodge trip to nearby snowy mountains, in the winter.
Death Valley
This trip explores the unique geology found in Death Valley, the lowest spot in North America. We go on a range of hikes, learn about desert adaptations, and introduce backpacking skills with an overnight hike to remote sand dunes. We also make a stop at Manzanar, the old Japanese internment camp, and tie this learning into the students’ discussion about immigration, racial injustice, and human rights.
Limuw (Santa Cruz Island)
Limuw (Santa Cruz Island) is an island rich with Chumash history and unique animal adaptations. Students spend four days on the island exploring the sea caves by kayak and hiking to various overlooks and remote beaches. We will also learn about marine debris, dwarfism, and (re)introduce backpacking skills and snorkel in offshore kelp forests. In science class, students use their findings to model energy cycling with food webs and study plate tectonics.
Junior High
In their final years at the K-8 campus, students embark on trips spanning five to nine days to even more distant locations such as Big Sur, Pinnacles National Park, the Klamath River, and Arizona. These longer adventures provide opportunities for students to apply their learning and take on greater challenges and leadership responsibilities.
Arizona
This is our backpacking capstone experience at the K-8 campus! Students opt into a variety of backpacking routes throughout Arizona, including the Grand Canyon, Aravaipa Canyon, and West Clear Creek. By using a variety of course areas, we can offer different backpacking itineraries with various difficulties to meet everyone’s personal level of productive challenge. Towards the end of the trip, the groups come together to share time of reflection and community the last couple days in Sedona.
Klamath River
This is a road trip-style experience where students explore the entire length of the Klamath River watershed along the border of California and Oregon. Students learn about the fascinating geology formed by volcanoes, the hydrological cycle, and the “last Indian war” causing the destruction of the Modoc nation. In Redwoods National Park, we talk about the salmon’s journey, redwood ecology, and go rafting on the Smith River. The Klamath River is also the site of a contentious history with water rights and dams; we visit a few of the dams, or old dam sites, and learn about the ongoing work to remove them and revitalize the river.
Ninth Grade
The start to the high school Field Studies program is one of transition and invitation. Some students will be arriving at the high school with a long history of travel, exploration, and learning in the outdoors, while others will have never camped or backpacked before and may be approaching these trips with apprehension and uncertainty. Our ninth grade trips are designed to invite in and support all of our students to the program, regardless of past experience.
Sierra Nevada
Students jump right into high school Field Studies with this trip during the first week of ninth grade. Students participate in a four day basecamp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where we provide space for students to begin forming healthy social relationships and get to know the school and faculty. During the days we will go for hikes, complete a solo, help cook and clean up meals, and complete a scavenger hunt. Students return to campus after the trip knowing their classmates and teachers better, and hopefully ready to jump into their on campus academic year.
Utah
This is one of the longer Field Studies trips and is a blend of basecamp and backpack. During this seven-day trip, we drive to Escalante National Monument in southern Utah for a four day backpack within the walls of deep sandstone canyons. Students learn about backpacking and backcountry skills, build more confidence in their self care and teamwork skills, and celebrate a successful first year of high school.
Tenth Grade
“Challenge” as a tool for learning and individual growth is at the center of our trips for the tenth grade. We bring back in our Field Studies instructors, professionals in teaching and guiding outdoor education experiences, to help create a supportive environment where students feel comfortable embracing challenges. On the May Costa Rica trip, challenge shows up in different ways as students are immersed in a different cultural and language environment during their homestay experience.
Costa Rica
In collaboration with the high school Social Innovation Program, students travel to Costa Rica for nine days at the end of their tenth grade year. Students spend three days exploring the small city of Alajuela before transitioning to a five day homestay in the rural community of Cedral. This trip provides students with ample opportunities to practice their Spanish language skills, participate in cultural exchange, and experience the productive challenges of international travel.
High Sierras Backpacking
This experience serves as a next step in the high school backpacking progression and is a step up in difficulty from the ninth grade Utah trip. Each day, field teams will travel to a new camp by carrying all their gear in a backpack; daily mileage varies from one to five (1-5) miles. We will travel through parts of Sequoia National Park as well as the Jennie Lakes Wilderness for this trip. Plan on enjoying mountain air and alpine lakes!
Eleventh Grade
The 11th grade year provides two fairly different experiences; the February trip to Hastings has a strong science curriculum focus and we stay as a big group in historic buildings at this UC Reserve site.
Conversely, the May “Grand Adventures” are among our most immersive wilderness experiences, where we travel to more distant and remote locations.
Grand Adventures
Our longest Field Studies trips are dubbed the “Grand Adventures.” During these excursions, students opt-in to a wide variety of experiences ranging from 12 to 15 days. Each trip has elements of backcountry travel, distant locations, and small-group student leadership and application of skills. Some past Grand Adventures include:
- A coastal backpack and boating exploration of Point Reyes and Sonoma County;
- An extended immersive backpack on the Kern Plateau in the southern Sierra;
- A rugged coastal backpack along the Lost Coast with a relaxing basecamp finish in Humboldt Redwoods; and
- A challenging technical canyoneering and packrafting trip to Escalante, Utah.
Hastings Natural History Reservation
In February, students head to the UC Hastings Natural History Reservation in the mountains east of Carmel. During our time there, we further their understanding of curricular tie-ins from the Human Ecology Fellowship and explore place-based topics such as the Acorn Woodpeckers, Carmel River health and revitalization, and deep sea research at MBARI.
Twelfth Grade
Our final year in the Field Studies program is about celebration, application, and leadership. The final two trips provide ample space for students to take ownership of the experience as both active leaders and followers. For select 12th graders, they also have the opportunity to join the ninth grade August trip as student mentors and help steward the culture of the school for its newest incoming class.
Colorado River Canoeing
This is the last trip the 12th grade class completes together. Because of that, the primary objectives of this trip are to enjoy time with each other, share favorite memories, and hopefully make new ones. The students will head out to the Black Canyon of the Colorado River along the border of Arizona and Nevada for a four-day canoe trip. Along the way, we spend time soaking in natural hot springs, swimming in the river, and camping on remote riverside beaches. Students take this opportunity to remember and celebrate one another, while keeping in mind intentions for how they want to finish their time as high school students.
Student-Designed Trips
The last trip is one designed and led by the students themselves. This offers the perfect opportunity for application and transference of skills from a student participant to an adult leader. In January, select 12th graders join the Mod 4 “Outdoor Education Trip Design” class. There, they learn about the elements that make up a successful trip, consider the risk-benefit equation, and plan out all the logistics for their adventure. Then, in May, students split into smaller groups to go on these student-designed trips. Faculty are there to take care of the driving and supervise; however, these are truly student-led experiences.
135
The number of days K-12 graduates spend in the field.
40
Unique destinations Sequoyah School visits annually.
Over 200
Miles a K-12 graduate will hike or backpack while at Sequoyah.