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DINING HALL
The dining hall at Cascade is centrally located, with the cabin buildings close by. Trails and unpaved roads access most field study areas. Students, high school Student Leaders, Staff, and Teachers eat family style in the spacious dining hall. Hot, varied, and nutritious meals are prepared by our professional kitchen staff, and students are assigned to help set the tables, deliver and serve the food during the meal, and clean up after the meal on a rotating basis. The dining hall serves as a central hub of activity throughout the day. Students participate in a ceremonial raising and lowering of the flag each morning and evening, and evening campfire programs are held in the windowed indoor campfire space facing the grand fireplace in case of inclement weather. The Cascade Outdoor School office is located inside the dining hall, as well as the Nurse's station. |
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CABINS AND RESTROOMS
There are two separate heated cabin buildings at Cascade, consisting of a long dormitory-style hallway with individual rooms. Each pair of cabin rooms serves 6-10 students (a few from each class) and 1-3 high school Student Leaders. Cabins are supervised by staff members. All participants sleep on bunk beds with mattresses. Students should bring a sleeping bag (or blankets) and pillow for their stay. Restrooms are located inside the cabin buildings, and contain private stalls for toilets and showers. In addition to the cabin restrooms, Cascade features restrooms inside the dining hall building. OUTDOOR SCHOOL NURSE There is a registered nurse on site 24 hours a day while your student is at Outdoor School. The nurse takes care of injuries and illnesses as they arise, and also has commonly-forgotten items (like sleeping bags, jackets, and toothbrushes) available to lend. The nurse is available to discreetly clean soiled sleeping bags as needed throughout the week. If you have specific health care or dietary concerns, please contact the Outdoor School Program Nurse, Peggy Sedlak: psedlak@mesd.k12.or.us |
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OTHER FEATURES
Weather permitting, the entire Cascade Outdoor School community gathers each evening for a campfire program at the outdoor campfire facility. Students perform skits and enjoy songs, and it is many students' favorite part of Outdoor School. During inclement weather, campfire programs take place in front of the grand fireplace in the indoor campfire space adjoining the Dining Hall. Each afternoon, students participate in recreation, consisting of games, hikes, arts & crafts, archery, or other non-academic activities. These activities are led by staff members or classroom teachers and consist of a mixture of students from each participating class. Field study, the "school" part of Outdoor School, takes place throughout the site, and takes advantage of our incredible local nature. The Cascade site is located along the banks of the North Fork of the Santiam River, and features lush forests and and a beautiful pond. Photos of the natural areas and some of the equipment and specimens used on field study can be found arranged by field study on the Science & Nature page. |
