Glacier Park classroom: Institute has taught more than 20,000 kids

Every year when elementary school students from the Flathead Valley attend classes at the Glacier Institute's Big Creek Outdoor Education Center, instructors ask them the same question: How many have ever been to Glacier National Park?

Without fail, the answer is the same in each class. Only half the students, if not fewer, have ever set foot inside the park.

The Glacier Institute has been working for a quarter century to change that.

"That's the heart string," said Joyce Baltz, the Glacier Institute's executive director. "These kids are from right here, and many of them have never been in the national park."

The institute celebrates its silver anniversary this year. In 25 years, the nonprofit has taught more than 20,000 elementary students from the Flathead Valley.

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