How WTA’s Outdoor Leadership Training helped one teacher finally get outside with her students

Sara Ullmer, a former high school science teacher at Highline High School in Burien, attended one of WTA’s first Outdoor Leadership Training (OLT) workshops. She found the program to be just what she needed. It helped her build her confidence in safety considerations and group management, which helped her take her students on outdoor trips. 

“I had been trying to lead trips with my students and realized how important providing gear was to making the outdoors accessible,” Sara said. “I had already looked to WTA for hike ideas and trail conditions. So when I discovered the OLT program, it was magical. I remember thinking what a game changer the program was. I could invite any and all kids on a trip and give them the gear they needed to have fun and stay safe and dry. It was incredible.”

Between 2015 and 2019, Sara led 24 outdoor trips with students. The trips ranged from water quality testing on a hike through a watershed to camping, backpacking, snowshoeing, rock climbing and more. 

When community partners come together to get youth outside, great things happen. Photo by Sara Ullmer

“The OLT program was a massive support for my school and Youth Experiential Training Institute trips,” she said. “I borrowed tents, raincoats and pants, hiking boots, snowshoes and everything in between. I even borrowed a fully stocked camp kitchen to make cooking easier with large groups. The OLT community was also a wealth of knowledge about what places worked well for outings and other considerations. The OLT team was so helpful and kind, supporting me as I figured out what it meant to lead all sorts of trips.”

The OLT community Sara referred to is the instructors and the other attendees of the workshops she attended. Often by the end of the hands-on trainings, participants have learned from each other and shared their experiences. Some also share contact information to stay connected as they go on to lead outdoor trips.

• Outdoor Leadership Training resources
• - Program FAQs
• - Funding assistance with WTA
• - More Outdoor Leadership Training stories

“It was useful to have a group of educators and trip leaders who were passionate about taking students on trips and hearing about their ideas and considerations,” Sara said. “I could incorporate some of the logistics planning and coordinating to make it a little easier.”   

There are many challenges leaders face when planning outdoor trips. Without the OLT program, Sara said, “I would have been much more isolated in my experience. It would have been difficult or impossible to take students on certain trips, such as backpacking, without the extra gear. It made every trip memorable in a positive way, not in the ‘I’m so cold’ sort of way. Most of the students I worked with would have struggled to find the equipment necessary to have an enjoyable experience.”

Sara still reflects on the transformative experiences and positive memories shared with her students on the outdoor trips. 

“I have so many fond memories of the trips,” she said. “The sheer joy that students showed playing in the snow might be unparalleled. I remember taking a group of English language learners who had recently immigrated to the U.S. snowshoeing, and snow was so fascinating and peculiar to them. They tossed that snow up over and over again and were laughing; it was pure joy at its finest.”

The impact of making connections to nature and spending time together outdoors goes well beyond the experience in the moment.

Lack of access to gear can be a barrier to getting outside, which is why WTA and partners work together to lend resources. Photo by Sara Ullmer

“I still hear from students who went into outdoor or environmental careers because of the trips we took,” Sara said. “A lot of the impact was also hard to measure, but you could feel it on the car ride home from a trip. The feeling of belonging to a group, confidence in trying a new skill, excitement from being outdoors all weekend. It was almost tangible, the positive feelings as students said goodbye to each other. The trips helped foster some unlikely friendships between students who wouldn’t normally know each other at school and now had a friendly face in the halls.”

The outdoor experiences didn’t just have a positive impact on students; they made a lasting impact on Sara as well. 

“One of my favorite things I’ve done in my career so far is lead outdoor trips with students, and I absolutely could not have done it without WTA,” she said. “I am forever grateful.”