Wesley and Lorinda Mortensen Outdoor Education Fund for Edith Bowen Laboratory School

Our love of the outdoors came from time spent in the mountains, marshes and farmlands of Utah.  As parents of young children, we prioritized outdoor experiences year-round, even bundling up our kids daily for a dose of fresh air in the frigid winters of Minnesota and Cache Valley. We gratefully enrolled our elementary age children at Wesley’s alma mater, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, largely because of the focus on outdoor and experiential education there.  Through significant experiences outside, they learned for themselves what research has shown: Children that learn outdoors experience improved academics and focus, increased cooperative learning, and more meaningful social interactions.  What better way to apply learned principles than in the ecosystems of our natural environment?  Children learn to overcome adversity and even enjoy the elements of heat, cold, rain, and snow.  Flora and fauna must be thoughtfully observed.  Reading, writing, researching, and advocating become as natural as their surroundings.  We believe the most important aspect of outdoor education is that it nourishes the body, mind and soul and contributes significantly to physical and emotional wellbeing.  Mother earth is indeed healing! Through an elementary school experience of outdoor education, children can become adults who have an appreciation for the natural world, and pass that on to future generations.

Please join us in supporting this fund so children at Edith Bowen Laboratory School will always be able to learn through outdoor education.

With gratitude,

Wesley and Lorinda Mortensen