Teachers Escape to Preview Tremont Programs

(Great Smoky Mountains) – Great Smoky Mountains Institute is giving Teachers a preview of Tremont school programs through its Teacher Escape Weekend, September 28-30. This 3-day, 2-night program offers educators of any grade level or subject the “Tremont experience.”

 “This year for Teacher Escape we will spend an afternoon at Cades Cove to participate in our popular Citizen Science Monarch Tagging Project, states Jennifer Love, school program director. It is a fun and amazing way to learn what Monarchs do each year”. Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is committed to environmental education in the Smokies. School groups taking educational field trips comprise a major portion of Tremont’s youth programs with more than 5,000 children staying at Tremont for 3 to 5 day programs annually.

You can dip your toes in the Middle Prong while learning about Stream Physics and critters, relax by campfires at night, and exchange experiences and ideas. The Townsend Fall Festival is an available choice on Friday evening with Tremont providing teachers shuttle service as desired.

The workshop weekend is an opportunity to meet other teachers, share ideas, learn about new Tremont programs and answer questions before a school visit. “It is also a time to relax, enjoy the mountain scenery, have fun and make new friends,” says Love.

Teacher Escape Weekend allows teachers to attend free of charge when their school participates in a 3 or 5 day Tremont school program. It also reduces the cost of the trip for each participant. This program is not only for the lead teacher, but any teachers participating with the school group. “The cost of Teacher Escape Weekend is free ($50.00 deposit refunded with attendance and when you bring a school group) because Tremont understands the importance of this pre-trip experience for new and returning teachers.

Tremont has been hosting school groups on educational field trips for nearly 40 years. Their award-winning program assures educators that what is learned in the “field” correlates to curricula that teachers use in the classroom. As one teacher put it, “It is nice to have programs like Tremont’s where students are able to have hands-on learning in a place-based environment and there is no better place like the Smokies to have as a classroom.”

Tremont won the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship award for excellence in environmental education and outreach in 2006.

For more information on how you can register Teacher Escape Weekend visit www.gsmit.org, call 865-448-6709, or e-mail mail@gsmit.org.

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is a private non-profit organization that operates a residential environmental learning center within Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Since 1969 Tremont has provided in-depth experiences to hundreds of thousands of people of all ages through residential educational programs designed to nurture appreciation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, celebrate diversity, and foster stewardship.

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