Students at Boothbay Region High School (BRHS) are about to take their exercise outside, and off campus, thanks to a recent grant from the MaineHealth Community Health Improvement Fund that allows the school to buy about 20 mountain bikes, helmets, snowshoes and a storage unit. The unit will be a semi-permanent structure that can be moved in case of construction. The Improvement Fund previously awarded BRHS a grant for an outdoor ropes challenge course, which was installed last summer. 

BRHS Athletic Administrator Dennis Dacus said physical education (phys ed) programs would love to do more outdoor activities, both to diversify their offerings and foster an interest in nature with students, but money is often a barrier. “Without these two grants, this would just be a pipe dream,” he said.  

The addition of the ropes course has allowed Dacus to implement a new phys ed curriculum that centers around the group process. This starts with doing blindfolded trust exercises and building teamwork skills, leading up to trying the course’s nine elements: five low and four high. The lower elements are around knee-high, and the higher ones are up to 40 feet. It has been an “ultimate equalizer” in the classroom, with some students taking to it right away regardless of athletic ability, said Dacus.

Just as the ropes course has revolutionized local phys ed, Dacus hopes the new equipment will have a similar effect not just in gym classes, but also for the school’s outing clubs and athletic teams. “Kids are going to learn that you don't have to be in a gym on a treadmill to get a workout.”  

Most of the snowshoeing and biking will occur in the expanded trail system on school property, but Dacus wants to take both activities off-campus to introduce students to local trails and preserves, which he became an “expert” on during the COVID-19 pandemic. He believes this will have a trickle-down effect, such as increased, continual foot traffic to Boothbay Region Land Trust’s holdings and other local trails.  

“Once these kids have seen the beauty of these preserves around here, on these trails, and the things you can do on them, it's just going to help the community.” 

Dacus is still in the process of purchasing the equipment, so these programs will likely not start this year.