Outdoor Education

To enhance our Academic program at Santa Barbara Middle School, we deliver an additional holistic program including unparalleled outdoor experiences that foster individual accomplishment in an interdependent community. Our unique, accredited, Outdoor Education Program challenges students through rigorous expeditions in the wilderness. Students and faculty embark on learning adventures by bicycle, on foot, and at sea and journey together so each student can discover their inner strength and the depth of their compassion for others. This process of self-discovery, called The Hero’s Journey, is grounded in the field of Depth Psychology and is a critical part of our education program.

    • Why Outdoor Education? Emerson ('19) explains.

Our Promise

During your child’s time at SBMS, they will…
  • Build grit, perseverance, confidence, and resilience through the challenging rigor of these expeditions. 
  • Ride over 300 miles, backpack 50 miles, and kayak 55 miles all with the guidance and support of classmates and teachers.
  • Learn how to fix a flat tire, become more attuned to nature as a powerful teacher, and competently perform basic wilderness safety techniques.
  • Spend 50 nights in a tent, cooperatively cook a meal with a team for 200 people, make 65 sandwiches and wash their own dishes.
  • Explore the natural and beautiful world we live in from the seat of their bicycle.

    • Putting names in the fire, a trip tradition, on our Fall Expedition


The integration of classroom academics with artistic, physical, and outdoor projects produces an environment where each program reinforces the others in a balanced and well-rounded way. Our outdoor expeditions are crucial to our program as a whole. 

    • This year's special 9th grade expedition, Journey to the Western Gate

SBMS expeditions challenge us to push through personal boundaries while building crucial skills, such as self-confidence, responsibility and cooperation. 

    • The top of Sulphur Mountain after a 10-mile uphill climb

    • 6th grade hiking on Santa Cruz Island during their retreat

    • Students learning how to build a camp fire with flint during trip prep

    • Ending the night around the campfire together

ORIENTATION OVERNIGHT
This ride gives students a sense of direction for the upcoming year. During the first week of school the entire faculty, staff and all students head out on a two-day Orientation together. We mix sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students in “families” with SBMS faculty and ride to Carpinteria where we camp overnight. New students are introduced carefully and thoughtfully to the outdoor expedition and it is a training ground for cycling safety, camp set up, practice with cooking, eating, campfires, and sleeping as well as a chance for new students to connect and bond with returning students, teachers, and staff.
FALL EXPEDITION 
The fall journey takes place for six days in October usually in Monterrey or in Morro Bay. The entire school travels together for 6 days as the theme always revolves around “teamwork.” It brings the entire school together; students and faculty enjoying the journey side by side. There is an opportunity for older students to mentor the younger and for new students to learn about becoming a part of the SBMS community.
 
 
MID-YEAR EXPEDITIONS
Leading up to the mid-year trip, all students participate in a several week skill and team-building pre-­departure programs integrated into the Friday Elective classes. Lower School students are involved in a two‐year series of skill-­building activities via their journeys: A local backcountry ‘Trek’ for the sixth graders, and ‘Bikes and BOBs’ in Ojai for the seventh grade. The eighth grade students choose their journey: Backpacking in Catalina, Mountaineering at Mount Whitney, or Kayaking the Gaviota coastline. Ninth graders head out on a special journey of their own which has ranged from the Channel Islands to a Journey to the Western Gate. 
 
YEAR END EXPEDITIONS 
These journeys are a keystone of the SBMS outdoor program. Classroom work is completed and the theme is celebration and integration – a Rite of Passage. The Lower School enjoys exploring the roads and trails of Marin County and a group treasure hunt in San Francisco. Culminating a year of historical, English and cultural study, the Upper School ventures out in alternate years to the American Southwest or to Oregon’s Cascade Mountains.

    • Kayaking around Morro Bay

Testimonials

"Santa Barbara Middle School has been a life-changing experience. Whether it’s the community or the fun bike rides on the trips. Throughout these last three years at SBMS, I have been left with many valuable lessons and teachings such as how every moment is a gift and to go with gratitude. It has taught all of us to care for each other, see SBMS as a family, kindness, and equality. It’s a unique school that left me with unforgettable memories. Santa Barbara Middle School holds and forever will hold a place in my heart."
 
 - Class of 2020 Student
"We all face different dragons on these journeys. Our fire brings us together, listens to us, and at the end of the trip, we have formed a connection that is unexplainable. By the time your middle school experience is over, the unknown doesn’t present the possibility of failure, it presents the possibility of success. 

We use our challenges, our rides, our bikes, and the fire to connect with each other in a way that I still can only attempt to describe after all these years. Middle School has shaped my life by teaching me to embrace my dragons rather than run from them."

- SBMS Alum 
“The process of climbing hills on a bike concretely conveyed the less tangible process of confronting life’s countless challenges - with each push of the pedal; I became closer to the summit. These days, when facing adversity, I reference those victories that I felt on my bike and reaching the top of the mountain when hours earlier it seemed impossible.”     
 
- SBMS Alum
"In 7th grade, I winced at the idea of biking 20 miles in one day, and would look for any way to get out of it. Now I’m in 9th grade, and facing 50 miles is still daunting, but I look forward to every minute. I’ve learned that just because I know something is going to be difficult, it doesn’t scare me anymore. In fact, I have come to enjoy challenging myself because I now understand the reward of hard work and memories that unfold along the way.
As the trip progresses, we become more physically worn down and our vulnerability is exposed and this allows us to be truthful and honest when sharing around the fire. We open up about our challenges and acknowledge the people who support us daily. The fires have taught me the importance of speaking from the heart. This evening gathering encourages listening, participation, self-reflection, self-knowledge, looking beyond one’s self to others and learning how to perceive things more deeply."
 
 - SBMS 9th Grader 

    • Homecoming at the end of a Fall Expedition

Expedition Safety

Santa Barbara Middle School’s Outdoor Program is fully accredited by the Association for Experiential Education (AEE), the industry standard for outdoor education and experience-based leadership training programs. AEE accredited programs include: The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), Outward Bound, and other college programs around the country. All SBMS staff members receive annual certification in CPR, First Aid, and Wilderness First aid. In addition, on each journey, we have staff members who are highly trained and certificated in medical and emergency response: Wilderness First Responders (WFRS) trained through the Wilderness Medical Institute, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Wilderness EMTs, lifeguards, and a member of the Los Padres Search and Rescue team.
Santa Barbara Middle School cultivates in our students passion for life and life-long learning, a deep sense of trust in themselves, strength and courage to succeed at life's challenges, and compassion and respect for others.
Santa Barbara Middle School ● 1321 Alameda Padre Serra ● Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Tel: 805-682-2989 ● office@sbms.org