The nature center offers more than 50 different STEM outreach programs to public, private and homeschool students in grades pre-K through 12 in the mountain counties. Such programs supplement existing lessons and curricula by bringing additional resources to the classroom and by providing outdoor, experiential education opportunities for students. This past school year, Highlands Nature Center’s Outreach Program served more than 9,000 students through more than 280 programs presented at 61 different schools throughout 13 regional counties. 

Since most of these schools have very limited budgets for programs and field trips, funding from the Duke Energy Foundation will help Highlands Nature Center expand its offerings to more schools, while continuing to provide its wide variety of science outreach programming with minimal or no fees.