GREEN RIVER — At Expedition Academy, students don’t just read about ecosystems, they crawl through them.

The Green River alternative high school, which has served at-risk students for 26 years, presented an annual report to the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees Tuesday night. They highlighted a curriculum built around immersive, hands on learning designed to hook students who have struggled in traditional school settings.

“We are small, but we are mighty,” said Science Teacher Dan Parson. “I have learned to never, ever underestimate the power that a formerly at-risk student has when you let them graduate and you let them get into the community and contribute.”

Students have completed 14 field trips across Wyoming, tended hydroponic gardens, raised trout in the classroom in partnership with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and studied biodiversity through a live classroom collection of reptiles and animals from every continent, affectionately referred to as the zoo.

This past fall, students descended into Sinks Canyon, rappelling into darkness and crawling through narrow underground passages to observe a stretch of river that few people on earth have ever seen.

“Nobody’s going to remember their last day of TV,” English Teacher Fredrick Schwartz said. “But they’re going to remember the day they crawled around in the caves.”

In the visual arts program, leather tooling has quickly become one of the most popular offerings at the school. Students with no prior experience have produced wallets, bags and belts, often already planning their next project before finishing their current one. Pottery, photography and 3D art round out the visual arts curriculum.

Students at EA are also giving back to the community, with 793 days of volunteering work donated to the community this year. Students volunteer at the food bank, animal shelter and various city organizations, and have served meals with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Service hours have increased each of the past three years, with one student logging 66 hours so far this year.

Academically, state assessment scores improved by an average of nearly 50 points in English, 67 points in math and 213 points in science over the past year. The school has exceeded state expectations for alternative schools for two consecutive years. Since its first graduating class in 2000, Expedition Academy has graduated 548 students.

Many of our students say this is the first school where they feel like they belong

Principal Ralph Obray