DIXFIELD — Fewer than three weeks after receiving approval from the Western Foothills Regional School Unit 10 board to launch a new club, Dirigo High School teacher Karolyn Buotte learned that a grant has been given to help with the activity.

Dirigo High School will receive $500 to apply toward transportation costs for members of the newly organized Outing Club to get to sites for their activities.

When the club was approved, Buotte was planning to call on parents to drive their children to such places at Whitecap Mountain, Mt. Zircon and the Appalachian Trail head in Andover where an overnight stay is planned for late June.

“I feel incredibly thankful and lucky,” Buotte said.

The nonprofit, all-volunteer Teens to Trails organization, based in Edgecomb, awarded grants to 17 high schools across the state for their outing clubs. The only other high school in the area to receive a grant is Mt. Blue in Farmington.

Buotte, a high school English teacher and outdoor enthusiast, said she expects about 20 students to attend the first meeting Tuesday, Feb. 1. From that organizational meeting, she believes that number could double.

Members will devise paperwork to be sent home to parents and discuss future outings. Buotte said prior to each outing event, a mandatory meeting will be held to prepare students for what’s ahead.

The first outdoor event is set for Saturday, Feb. 12, when members will snowshoe up Sugarloaf Mountain in Dixfield.

All events will take place outside of the school day, usually on Saturday.

Teens to Trails aims to help establish outing clubs in every high school in the state as a way to introduce young people to the outdoors and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

In addition to cash for transportation costs, Teens to Trails, through several outdoor companies, has provided outdoor equipment, such as tents, snowshoes and backpacks to clubs.

At Dirigo, most of the equipment has been supplied through a federal program.

In the meantime, Buotte will continue to apply for any and all grants that may be available to help promote getting outside and getting active.

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