Seven years after the Whittier Fire tore through Rancho Alegre, The Outdoor School is officially open for the 2024-25 school year.

The school closed in 2017 after the fire burned down 47 of the 50 buildings at the camp, including student and staff lodgings. The Outdoor School opened in 1985 and has hosted fifth- and sixth-graders for four-day retreats with classes dedicated to introducing them to nature and the environment.

Amanda Chick, the school’s education director, was working at the camp as a naturalist when the fire occurred.

“[I was] completely devastated because I was living here,” Chick told Noozhawk.

Chick was not at the camp during the fire, and none of the staff was harmed, but most lost everything to the flames.

“I had a close friend when we had the ranch house that burned to the ground. There was only like one metal piece that he found from his belongings,” said Glen Goddard, the program director for The Outdoor School.

Since then, the school has been working toward rebuilding but has faced hurdles.

The first was deciding what to do with the school after the fire and how it would function. The Los Padres Council of Boy Scouts debated over multiple meetings and talked to different architects to decide on a new design.

Another issue was rebuilding the infrastructure of the camp. The school had to rebuild everything, including electrical wires, water pipes and sewage infrastructure.

Another issue the school ran into was the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Off and running we go, and COVID hits,” Goddard said, “and then as a result, we had [to] send everybody home for a year.”

The Future of the Camp

As of now, Goddard said the camp is about “95%” complete. All the student lodging and staff barracks are finished and ready for students.

The new buildings have been built on the same 215-acre plot of land and can house 150 campers per week.

Along with housing for staff who remain on campus year-round, the site now features four new dorms.

The dorms are one of the biggest changes to the camp. The buildings now feature full showers and bathrooms, a result of the updated plumbing and infrastructure.

Additionally, all of the new buildings have been updated with structural insulated panels that resist heat in the event of a fire. Each building also will have fire alarms and sprinklers inside each dorm.

Goddard said that while it is impossible to make something “fireproof,” the new materials will be able to resist fire damage.

Along with the new buildings, staff members are taking precautions by removing brush and other flammable material from the campsite.

Besides the changes to the building, the camp also will be offering new activities and classes.

One of the activities involves new paths for mountain bikes. The camp also was gifted 20 bikes and an assortment of helmets from Trek Bikes.

According to staff, the bike paths not only will be for the campers but will be open to the public on select days of the week. Visitors must sign a liability form, which can be found at trailsatra.com.

The Outdoor School also plans to offer new classes on top of its former curriculum.

In developing the curriculum, Chick knew they didn’t want to do a complete overhaul of the program. In the past, the camp has received positive feedback about the classes from students and parents.

Not only that, but some students were also children of former campers and would arrive to the camp excited to have the same experiences as their parents.

“We kept the structure of the [program] the same because it worked really well. So, why change it?” Chick said. “That was generations of different directors making the program what it was.”

While the camp will be keeping the four main curriculum hikes, it will be adding a hike focused on fire ecology and water science.

On this hike, students not only will learn how to make a fire, but how wildfires can affect nature.

“They learn about how fires can be beneficial to the environment in different ways. They help plants thrive and they come back [through] plant succession, and things like that,” Chick said.

Students also will learn about the science of water. Because of recent storms from last winter, the camp has more water than it has in the past, which will allow students to learn about watersheds and the water cycle.

Additionally, as the staff begins to hire more naturalists, they will bring ideas for different activities and topics.  

Building a Community

Besides introducing kids to nature, one of the most important aspects of The Outdoor School is that it lets kids meet new people.  

According to Chick, staff have heard from teachers that students who come back from the four-day retreats seem different and new friendships are forged over the experience.

“Maybe they’re from the same community. Maybe they’re from two different communities, but then those kids make new friends and they’re usually like, ‘Oh, give me your phone number. Give me your address’ before they get on the bus. It’s very cute,” Chick said.

One of the challenges that the school has faced since coming back is letting people know it is open again.

Many of the teachers who knew of the school and let parents know about it have retired or moved. Now, new teachers are not aware of the school and don’t have the same connection.

Despite that, Goddard said The Outdoor School is an asset to the community and not just to school groups, but all kinds of youth groups.

“It’s important to Santa Barbara County that we’re here to serve the youth of the county in [different] ways,” Goddard said. “Not just hiking, biking, campfires — all those things we do. There are other things we can do here, and it allows people to get out of their environment to focus together and train together.”

The Outdoor School is accepting students for fall and winter. To enroll, visit theoutdoorschool.org.