What is KES?

Most outdoor education programs teach the activity.

Students learn how to climb a rock wall, paddle a kayak, ride a bike trail, or spend a night camping. They develop skills, build confidence, and gain valuable outdoor experiences.

Those experiences matter.

But at Escalera Academy, we believe there is another question worth asking:

What makes recreation possible?

A climbing route does not exist because someone simply decided to climb there. It exists because of geology, land management decisions, engineering, access agreements, equipment design, and generations of people who shaped how that place is used.

A ski area depends on mountain ecosystems, water resources, snowpack, infrastructure, transportation systems, and a workforce that keeps operations running.

A river trip depends on watersheds, reservoirs, wildlife management, public policy, Indigenous knowledge, recreation businesses, and environmental stewardship.

Recreation does not happen in isolation. It is the result of interconnected environmental, cultural, economic, and engineering systems.

That is the foundation of the KES Framework.

Through Kinesiology, Engineering, and Sustainability, students explore not only how recreation works, but why it works.

They examine how gear is designed, how the body moves, how landscapes function, how communities interact with natural resources, and how decisions affect the future of outdoor spaces.

Students investigate questions such as:

• How do trails impact wildlife habitat?

• Where do outdoor products come from?

• What role does Indigenous knowledge play in land stewardship?

• How do recreation economies support communities?

• What are the tradeoffs between access, preservation, and conservation?

• How does climate influence the places where we recreate?

By exploring these questions, students develop systems-thinking skills that extend far beyond recreation itself.

At Escalera Academy, recreation is not the destination.

It is the lens.

We use recreation as a gateway to help students understand the environmental systems, engineering innovations, cultural perspectives, and human decisions that shape the world around them.

Because we don't just teach recreation.

We teach what makes recreation possible.

KES Programs are the applied delivery of the framework through Escalera Academy. Each program combines:

• Workshops & labs for foundational learning

• Field experiences for real-world application

• Reflection to connect experience to understanding

Every program is built around a featured outdoor activity. These experiences serve as living classrooms where students connect academic concepts in science, movement, and sustainability through direct, hands-on experience.

The KES program is designed to build toward a featured end-of-week outdoor experience, such as climbing, rafting, or another recreational activity.

Throughout the week, students participate in hands-on workshops, movement activities, outdoor exploration, and skill-based challenges that prepare them for the final experience. Each workshop introduces a different part of how outdoor recreation is made possible through the connection of movement, equipment, and environment.

Some sessions focus on movement and body awareness, while others explore gear systems, safety, geology, biology, watersheds, or local ecology. Students may practice rope skills, study how rivers move, explore rock formations, learn about common outdoor injuries, or investigate how equipment is designed and used safely.

Hiking and outdoor exploration are incorporated throughout the program whenever possible and weather permitting, helping students build familiarity and confidence in outdoor environments.

The program flows progressively, with each workshop building knowledge, confidence, and practical skills. By the end of the week, students are not simply participating in the featured activity—they understand how it works, how to engage safely, and how movement, equipment, and environment all connect within the experience.