High Country Adventures: Ute Pass Elementary students raise & release trout in Manitou Springs

MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Elementary school kids in Manitou Springs released their trout into the creek at Fields Park Thursday morning after raising them all year long in class. It’s a fun experience for the little ones, but also a great way to start ‘em early in their environmental stewardship.

“I just think it’s awesome that I get to experience these things as a 12-year-old,” said 6th grader Paxton Powell.

“Being in a classroom with just a couple windows can be challenging,” explained 6th grade teacher and head of the Trout in the Classroom Program at Ute Pass Elementary, Miles Growth.

Growth told KRDO13 this is just one of 25 field trips students at Ute Pass take per year.

“I think they’re more invested in the learning knowing that ‘okay tomorrow we get to do this awesome thing, so let’s really work hard today,'” he said in an interview Thursday.

They don’t just learn about the fish; Growth told us they also learn about the water they swim in.

“Students are monitoring water quality and water health throughout the year,” he elaborated.

Of course, not every kid gets this kind of hands-on experience in nature.

“We are spoiled growing up in Colorado, and it’s an awesome thing for these students to get to experience the mountains,” Growth said.

With that luxury comes responsibility, which they also learn.

“How to take care of them and just to be more responsible than we started the year,” said Paxton, who wants to be a teacher when she grows up. “It just makes me want to help other kids understand the outdoors a little more.”