A Brief History

The original idea behind Muddy Sneakers came to life out of the imagination and experience of Sandy Schenck, owner of the summer camp Green River Preserve near Brevard, North Carolina.

Sandy had witnessed, summer after summer, the invigorating effects of the outdoors on young people, as well as the importance of passed-down stories that define a sense of place, community and relationship to the land. In his concept, a non-profit organization would work to merge active outdoor experiential learning with traditional studies in public schools, beginning in Western North Carolina.

To that end, Muddy Sneakers formed an initial Board of Directors in the fall of 2007. John Huie, former director of the North Carolina Outward Bound School and Environmental Leadership Center of Warren Wilson College, signed on as Executive Director. Chuck McGrady, camp owner and former national chairman of the Sierra Club, became the first board chair. Writer Jay Fields worked to conceptualize how Muddy Sneakers would actually look, function and make a difference.

With the help of Brevard Middle School Principal and Board Member David Williams, board members and staff began developing a curriculum aimed at enriching North Carolina’s Standard Course of Study.

In the spring of 2008, under the leadership of Program Director Lauren Agrella, an experienced and impassioned outdoor educator, Muddy Sneakers partnered with a half dozen mountain schools to run day-long pilot expeditions into forested areas near students’ schools. DuPont State Forest, with its rock domes, creeks and waterfalls, became the main staging area for learning expeditions led by seasoned instructors.

For each fifth and eighth grade class, the Muddy Sneakers curriculum generally involves 12 full-day learning expeditions, all focused on themes within the Science Standard Course of Study. Muddy Sneaker expeditionary groups consist of 10 to 12 students for each field instructor.

A distinctive, radical characteristic of the program is the number of field days for each student (up to 12 over the course of the school year). Each day in the field is connected to the next in a curriculum that builds on itself, expedition to expedition. In addition, Muddy Sneakers seeks out and encourages relationships with other organizations, in addition to its school partners—organizations with missions that encourage outdoor and experiential learning.

In its first year, Muddy Sneakers was generously funded by its own board and staff, friends and allies who support the idea of “No Child Left Inside,” three matching grants from Henry McHenry of Charlottesville, Virginia, and a foundational grant from the Hillsdale Fund of Greensboro, North Carolina. Participating schools contributed a modest fee for participating children, set on a sliding scale based on need.

The downstream goal is to make the program available to as many communities throughout the Southern Appalachians as possible and to expand to other regions of the country through a leadership mentoring program based on Muddy Sneaker core values and field teaching experiences