Asbury Hills
Outdoor Environmental Education for Schools

Why bring your class to Asbury Hills?

• We're affordable. By using your own teachers to facilitate, outdoor education experiences are affordable.
• We offer curriculum specifically tied to PASS.
• Asbury Hills is on 2000 acres of mountains, streams, waterfalls and ponds with endangered plants and animals.
• You will love our accommodations, no matter what season it is.
• We can host groups of 8 to over 200 students.
• Curriculum offers teachers the flexibility to tie lessons directly to their class's current coursework.
• Our Lake Trail and Mathew's Shower Trail, and the associated curriculum, are awesome, easy to use educational tools for schools.
• Our Pond / Steam Comparison Study is unrivaled by any other environmental education center or camp.

How our outdoor program works for schools (the essentials).
We offer specially designed trails and activities for your staff and teachers to guide students through.   Each trail has numbered stations that tie outdoor learning to real examples, while being directly relevant to state standards.  Activities are set up with easy to use, guided instructions that also include teaching points and discussion starters. All equipment and lab supplies are provided as well.  We will supply the trail and activity guides for your program and / or can put together teacher trainings for your visit.

Our Learning Philosophy
Education is learning retained.  While retention occurs in a number of ways, the easiest and most powerful is through engaged experiences.  We believe in linking classroom learning concepts to real life, place-based examples.  That engagement is easy at Asbury Hills because students can directly relate concepts to examples that matter to them-all while having fun.  We also believe that an outdoor education experience led by their own teachers is more powerful and educational than one led by someone else. When students see their teachers leading them in new and exciting settings, bonding, respect, fun and retention are all multiplied.

Food and Lodging
In 2008, Asbury Hills was completely renovated.  All of our cabins and lodges have heating and air conditioning.  Food service in our dining hall is included with your visit.  We serve a variety of food at every meal and are always happy to work with special diets.  Schools are expected to provide their own chaperones to stay with their students in cabins.  Separate accommodations can be available for teachers.

Structuring your visit to fit both the needs of your students AND your teachers
It's a lot of work for your teachers to lead the outdoor education activities.  We do everything we can to deliver user friendly activity guides and curriculum content, but there can still be extra strain on the teachers.  However, the relationship and learning the students have with their teachers is amazing; it can change a classroom for the rest of the school year.  In order to help your teachers during the visit, groups should utilize chaperones for student supervision. Parent volunteers can be responsible cabin leaders, and possibly even put in charge of evening programs.

If you would like to reserve space for your group, set up a tour, or learn more about what Asbury Hills has to offer please contact Sarah Kelley in our central office at 864.458.2071 or email our director, Ryan Culby, at director@asburyhills.org .