From Classroom to Coastline
PVF values hearing from our grantees, partner organizations, and teachers about their experiences. Read a letter from 5th grade teachers at an Alameda County school who received an Environmental Science Teacher Resource Grant for their students to attend science camp.
“Funding through your environmental science grants to support our fifth grade students here at Brier has been invaluable. We remain one of the very few elementary schools left in Fremont Unified School District that still provides an experience like this for our students. All our 5th graders at Brier have been given the opportunity for a science-based overnight camping field trip. These field trips take an immense amount of planning, time, dedication, and are costly. With your monetary support for this school year, we are able to continue to plan to provide a science camp experience for our future group of students in the upcoming school years.
In the 2025-2026 school year, we have had the most students attend science camp compared to the past years. The students from the past had encouraged this group of students to attend science camp as it was one of the most “memorable experiences of their lives.” The grant helped offset costs for these students to go on their first field trip with this overnight and interactive experience.
After the field trip, many students were able to recall their experience and their learning from being at camp. Many students wanted to stay an extended time at science camp instead of returning home to Fremont.
Your grant made it possible for our classes of 2025-2026 5th graders to explore animals native to Santa Cruz (salamanders, newt, birds, fish, banana slugs, etc), build camaraderie with students from our school and different schools, be tech-free, enjoy day and night hikes, and understand ecology better. It was also many students’ first time visiting the beach and being in the sand to explore water sheds, whirlpools, aquatic creatures, and tidepools with experts.
Thank you for granting us this opportunity to send our students to our annual science camp trip. In the future, I hope that we will continue to work together to help our students learn beyond the walls of our classroom.”
Learn more about our Teacher Resource Grants and how they can support your own classroom next school year!
