Six Title I Elementary Schools in Henrico County to Join Blue Sky Fund’s Explorers Program, Connecting 1,250+ New Students to Experiential Outdoor Education
RICHMOND, VA — Blue Sky Fund (BSF), a Richmond-based youth development non-profit, announced a milestone expansion of its flagship elementary school program, Explorers. This will mark BSF’s first time offering Explorers programming outside of the City of Richmond through partnership with the Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) district. This strategic growth represents a 50% expansion of the Explorers program, extending its footprint from twelve partner schools to eighteen across the Greater Richmond region.
“We’re excited to partner with Blue Sky Fund to expand meaningful environmental literacy experiences for our students,” said Eric Byers, Environmental Literacy Educational Specialist for Henrico County Public Schools. “Our goal is for environmental learning to be more than a one-time field trip. By intentionally connecting these experiences to classroom instruction and our curriculum, students can build their understanding over time, apply what they are learning in authentic settings, and see themselves as part of the environment and their community.”
All third, fourth, and fifth grade students at the six HCPS Elementary Schools - Cashell Donahoe, Elizabeth Holladay, Fair Oaks, Glen Lea, Laburnum, and Ridge - will engage in a total of 14 field experiences per building. These field experiences take part in local and regional public spaces.
“Our Explorers program is well-tested and ready to scale; and we are excited for this expansion into a new school district!” said Amanda Godbold Payne, Executive Director of Blue Sky Fund. “We are thrilled to be able to provide more positive experiences in nature while students engage in active science learning in their local environment.”
Explorers provides hands-on, outdoor science education during school time hours at no cost to students or their families. Aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL), the curriculum takes third, fourth, and fifth-grade students out of the traditional classroom and into local green spaces such as Belle Isle, Three Lakes Park, and Pocahontas State Park for experiential field investigations. This helps students create a sense of place, highlighting the connections that exist between their lives and their local environments while strengthening their skills of observation, targeted questioning, and data collection and analysis. Each participant receives four to five trips a year resulting in an average of 10 program hours with Blue Sky Fund.
For more information on the Explorers program or how to support Blue Sky Fund's growth, please visit blueskyfund.org.
For Media Requests, please contact Diane Brown, Development & Communications Director, at (804)410-4265 or [email protected].
About Blue Sky Fund
Founded in 2007, Blue Sky Fund is a non-profit organization on a mission to provide transformational experiences for Richmond-area youth through outdoor education. Each year the organization provides over 3,000 youth opportunities to expand horizons, support academic success, increase confidence, and build collaboration skills through outdoor education and adventure programming.
About Henrico County Public Schools
Henrico County Public Schools serves approximately 50,000 students across 74 schools in Henrico County, Virginia. HCPS is committed to preparing every student with the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and experiences needed to thrive in a changing world. Through its Environmental Literacy program, HCPS integrates hands-on, place-based learning across the PK-12 curriculum, connecting classroom instruction with meaningful experiences in the environment and opportunities for students to investigate real-world issues and take informed action. Partnerships with community organizations expand these opportunities and help ensure students across Henrico have access to high-quality environmental learning experiences.