Centennial High School, Student Success Program

The Outdoors Club @CHS began under the umbrella of the Centennial Hawks Student Success Program that addresses the needs of our current students to recover credits, engage in culturally and linguistic relevant instruction, and provide mentoring and guidance throughout their Freshman and Sophomore years. The Outdoors Club @CHS was implemented as a supplemental afterschool activity that engages students in outdoor physical activity such as hiking, mountain biking, trail maintenance, and volunteerism at outdoor events. The Outdoors Club @CHS mission is to create a new generation of land stewards by teaching and learning about land conservation efforts and sustainable ways of living, future designations of land use, preserving ancient patterns of living, and learning about ways to give back more to the land than what we take. The program’s goal is to encourage, involve, and engage students, who otherwise would not participate in school-wide extra-curricular activities, with alternative school to community civic engagement activities that include self-awareness, social awareness, and social change. Current programming includes: Afterschool tutoring, monthly Saturday hikes at local trailheads; a 10-week bicycle clinic with two certified mountain bike instructors where students earn a certificate of completion, helmet and riding gloves; volunteer opportunities at local running and mountain bike races; and the study of land conservation and trail maintenance. The club hosts weekly student lunch meetings to discuss upcoming events and to hear from guest speakers. Within the last few years, students were involved in a documentary about bike packing on the Monumental Loop; students participated in a promotional social media video for one of our local organizational partners. A student representative and the club sponsor were invited to a private meet and greet with the United States Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland; five students volunteered at a local ultra running race; students participated in monthly hikes including a field trip to New Mexico State University climbing wall, which was the first time any of our students had ever done this type of physical activity; and our club recruited twelve students to participate in a 10-week mountain bike clinic, where seven students successfully completed the course earning a certificate of completion.