The park received an $8,000 \u201cTicket To Ride\u201d grant from the National Park Foundation that reimburses schools for costs for field trips to the park for third- to eighth-grade students. Disney also supports the grant program.<\/p>\n
About 600 students from Cortez, Dolores and Mancos are scheduled to visit the park as part of the program before through May, when the funding ends, said Mesa Verde education coordinator Jill Blumenthal. Kemper, Lewis-Arriola, Manaugh and Mesa elementary schools have scheduled trips, as well as Children\u2019s Kiva Montessori School. Mancos Middle and Elementary school also have been involved with the program, she said.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s still funding available for schools that haven\u2019t already scheduled trips, Blumenthal said. This is the first year the park has been awarded the grant, and Blumenthal said she hopes more area schools become consistent Mesa Verde visitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it hard to accept that there are students who are out in the schoolyard and can see Mesa Verde but have never been there,\u201d she said. \u201cA school trip gives them that opportunity to visit a park that\u2019s literally in their backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schools in other areas, such as Durango, visit the park more regularly than some Montezuma County schools, Blumenthal said.<\/p>\n
Most of the grant goes toward transportation costs, she said, and some of the money funds seasonal support staff.<\/p>\n
If local schools don\u2019t take advantage of the funding, Blumenthal said the park may reach out to other schools, such as tribal districts. But the grant money doesn\u2019t go as far with groups that have to travel from a school far away, she said.<\/p>\n
Depending on the response from local districts, park officials may pursue a separate grant to bring tribal schools to the park, Blumenthal said.<\/p>\n
Since it\u2019s the first year the park has been awarded the grant, it could take a few years for the program to take hold, she said. It might be late in the year for schools to think about scheduling a field trip, she added.<\/p>\n
Most of the field trips already scheduled feature tours of Balcony House, Blumenthal said. Tour reservations for that part of the park are filling up fast, but schools can still visit the park and set their own itineraries if they don\u2019t get the chance to visit Balcony House, she said.<\/p>\n
The \u201cTicket To Ride\u201d program aims to bring 100,000 students nationwide to the parks each year. Grants are awarded with the goal of bringing students to national parks who might not otherwise have a means of transportation to them.<\/p>\n
Since some area districts have many students that fit that category, Blumenthal said the grant program made sense for Mesa Verde.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me this seemed like a common sense connection to connect those dots and get kids up to the park,\u201d Blumenthal said.<\/p>\n