RMBL Scientists Visit Expanding Youth Programs

Driving into Gothic on a July afternoon, visitors immediately notice the crags of Gothic Mountain, chest-high monument plants, and roving researchers carrying nets and binoculars. As common as the deer grazing in the protected townsite meadows, a growing number of much younger scientists have brought their own questions to this community of curiosity.

For decades, RMBL Youth Programs (YP) has connected K–12 students directly to ecological research through immersive outdoor science education in Gothic. From K–2 Nature Camp and grades 3–5 Science Camp to middle school Project Eco-STEM and a high school field biology course, RMBL YP offers a progression of hands-on experiences that immerse students in cutting-edge ecological research.

What sets RMBL Youth Programs apart from traditional environmental education camps? Students are paired with scientists and become part of the research process.

“One of the most rewarding parts of my work at RMBL is connecting research scientists and their teams with the youth participating in our programs,” said Youth Programs Manager Katie Lawn. “These interactions help make a career in science feel attainable while giving campers and students the unique opportunity to learn directly from researchers in the field.”

This summer offered numerous examples of these scientist-student connections. Researchers including Katya Kochvar, Nick Dabagia, Sophia Todorov, billy barr, Travis Rainey, and Drs. Howard Whiteman, David Inouye, Dan Blumstein, and Mick Demi introduced young RMBLers to the methods and technologies used to study hummingbirds, aquatic ecosystems, snowpack, marmots, bumblebees, salamanders, and landscape-scale ecological change.

In 2025, Youth Programs groups had 45 guest scientist visits that reached more than 615 students year-round. In 2026, the program is already off to a strong start, with 23 guest scientist visits reaching 310 students. During the school year, RMBL hosts visiting schools in Gothic and also brings programming to schools in Gunnison and Crested Butte. Participation doubled beginning in 2022. RMBL now serves approximately 800 K-12 students annually, including roughly 600 students from rural Colorado schools. In 2025, RMBL hosted Gunnison Middle School students from the district’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE) program.

“For our youngest campers and students,” Lawn continued, “a visit might be a fun ‘show-and-tell’ experience, like meeting a scientist, exploring cool research tools and discovering what it’s like to study the natural world in a question-and-answer format. As students get older, those interactions become more experiential (such as a hike up to billy barr’s cabin to meet him and tour his weather station or a visit to David Inouye’s cabin to observe hummingbird banding).” Ultimately, students who stay with RMBL Youth Programs through the High School Introduction to Biology field course “work alongside researchers in the field, ask scientific questions, collect data and receive mentorship as they carry out their own research projects.”

RMBL Youth Programs also provides early career experience for a group of science education professionals, college students and recent college graduates from across the Gunnison Valley. This year’s team manifested the deep commitment of RMBL educators, with all teachers from last summer returning.

One of RMBL’s most impressive qualities is its sense of wonder. Regardless of their pedigree or decades of experience, RMBL principal investigators often light up more when they say, “Here is what we still do not know,” than when they say, “Here is what we know.”

The philosopher Socrates defined wisdom as knowing what one does not know. By that measure, RMBL has no shortage of wisdom. While many environmental education programs focus on what is known about a place, RMBL Youth Programs does that while also inviting young scientists into a process of curiosity centered on what remains unknown. In turn, RMBL is renewed by the awe and curiosity of young people joining the patient work of understanding. Grounded in the wisdom of the land, strengthened by ecological methods and tools, and enriched by multigenerational study, RMBL offers a model of long-term environmental wisdom.

As Katie Lawn concluded, “There’s something especially meaningful about sparking curiosity and building those connections across generations and expertise levels, especially while exploring nature together.”

 — John Hausdoerffer, PhD
Director of Story and Advancement
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory

Top: “Weather Wizard” billy barr modeling his weather station for RMBL campers