History

More than 30 years of service have allowed Greenkill to develop a solid, comprehensive year-round program that works equally well during the fall, winter, and spring seasons. As students understand the importance of working together, they discover similar lessons in nature. Programs are varied and continually updated, while keeping one theme throughout: nature’s components are interrelated in a healthy ecological community.

Who We Serve

Located six miles north of the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania border, Greenkill serves schools and organizations throughout the northeast. Greenkill’s curriculum is adaptable for any age and learning styles. We serve elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges throughout the year.

Who We Are

At Greenkill, students and their teachers are immersed in a harmonic blend of social and academic education, while surrounded by 1,150 acres of woods, lakes, streams and fields filled with a wide variety of flora and fauna.

Our Program Instructors all share an understanding and dedication to the YMCA’s four core values of Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility. Naturalists hold degrees in fields such as Biology, Recreation Education, Environmental Studies, and Elementary and Secondary Education. We provide ongoing trainings to keep instructors current with the latest information and techniques in the outdoor education field. We strive to maintain a comfortable 1 to 12 staff-to-student ratio. Seeing the student as the center of our educational efforts we focus on having one staff remain as the instructor throughout each group's visit. This allows instructors to know each individual, and not just the subject matter.

What We Do

Environmental Sciences
Investigations of each ecological community examine living organisms and their physical environment. Classes offered include water, forest, and field ecologies, wildlife studies, geology, environmental topics, ornithology, tracking and winter water.

Outdoor Skills
One of the first steps in cultivating awareness and appreciation for the natural environment is enjoying and feeling comfortable outdoors. Here is the opportunity for youth, so often removed from the outdoors, to participate in elements that include map & compass, orienteering, survival, mountain hikes, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.

Challenge Education
Teamwork and communication are the backbones in our challenge education programs. Teambuilding activities provide a catalyst for students to work together to achieve a series of common goals. The seven elements of our High Ropes Course serve to build group support. The Low Ropes Course offers high rope elements on the ground in order to incorporate even more teambuilding and communication. We also have indoor and outdoor climbing walls.