{"id":161133,"date":"2025-01-08T11:15:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T18:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=161133"},"modified":"2025-01-08T11:25:29","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T18:25:29","slug":"bringing-the-outdoors-to-the-classroom-and-inspiring-future-generations-mel-riffle-16-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=161133","title":{"rendered":"Bringing the outdoors to the classroom and inspiring future generations | Mel Riffle \u201916, \u201923"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Melanie Riffle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Nature has always been a part of Melanie Riffle\u2019s life. Now, as a sixth-grade teacher at Ute Pass Elementary School in Manitou Springs School District, she works to bring her passion for the outdoors to her students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce students are in nature they create a love for it. After they have a love for it, they see its value and we can then show them how to become stewards of it,\u201d Mel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her efforts, Mel was recently named a Distinguished Alumni by the UCCS College of Education\u2019s Department of Teaching and Learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riffle earned her BA in Geography and Environment Studies with an emphasis in Elementary Education in 2016. She also completed her MA in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Mathematics Education in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen students are learning hands on, not only are they fully engaged, but they are excited about it,\u201d Mel said, giving the example of raising trout with her 6th graders as part of the Mountain Academy of Arts and Sciences (MAAS), started by her teammate Miles Groth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program helped Ute Pass Elementary become the first public school in the nation<\/a> with a Leave No Trace Gold Standard youth program designation. The honor highlights the school\u2019s focus on ensuring a sustainable future for the outdoors and the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We raise trout from eggs and release them in the spring. To do this successfully, we learn about how trout survive in the wild, their ideal conditions, and how we can replicate this in a tank for higher survival rates,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project starts with field trips to lakes and rivers to test water quality by finding macroinvertebrates, some of which can survive more pollution than others,\u201d Mel explained. \u201cStudents learn that when the macroinvertebrates that are sensitive to pollution are present, the water is healthier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The class then takes what they have learned back to the classroom to do more research on and create dioramas and write essays on what a \u201cdream stream\u201d would be for the trout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the outdoor and hands on application, with the purpose of helping our fish grow, this ends up being one of their favorite projects of the year,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel\u2019s classroom also boasts a menagerie of animals, including a leopard gecko, a tank of cichlids, a bearded dragon, a box turtle, a red-eared slider and an axolotl. And a corn snake named Peaches also visits several times a year. Her students are fully responsible for caring for the animals and even take some of them home over breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In remarks announcing Mel\u2019s recognition from UCCS, Katie Anderson-Pence referenced a Facebook post from Ute Pass Elementary about her classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When Miss Riffle says she\u2019s going to do a science experiment with her class, you just never know if you need to warn the fire department or tell the rest of the building to stay back 100 feet from 6th grade! What you do know is that they are creating incredible memories, learning so much, and having a literal and figurative blast!”<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mel on a rafting trip<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In addition to taking students on over 20 field trips that include backpacking, camping, caving, and fishing, Mel also loves teaching mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery year I get students who think they can\u2019t do math, and every year I have to tell students that they only think<\/em> they can\u2019t,\u201d she said. \u201cThrough what I learned at UCCS and feedback I have been given from my principal, Jackie Powell, I have found a way to help students leave my classroom believing in themselves. Not because they are \u201cgood at math\u201d but because they know they can do hard things, and they know how to not give up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She credits Anderson-Pence and a program at UCCS with her successful math instruction methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while the Colorado Springs-native said part of the reason she chose to attend UCCS was because it was close to home, her adventurous and giving spirit took her across the world before she settled into her current role. That includes a move to the Philippines to help a friend start a school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe school system is very different there and my friend wanted to create a bilingual school to help her community,\u201d Mel said. \u201cSecondary education in the Philippines is taught in English and students who are not fluent struggle and most often have to drop out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school started out as a preschool and a tutoring center with the plan to add grade levels. Mel taught English and tutored students in math. She also tutored Chinese students online in the evenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel has also spent time in Ukraine and Mexico, helping to lead summer sports camps. She traveled to Tanzania to build benches and tables for students. In China, Mel worked with an orphanage to find resources to help children learn English ahead of their adoption by American families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore I moved to the Philippines I would go and help teams bring backpacks full of school supplies to islands affected by tsunamis,\u201d she said. \u201cSchool was free, but students needed supplies to attend. A lot of families could not afford that once their homes and rice fields were washed out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mel said her path thus far has been successful thanks to support from her UCCS family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat set UCCS apart for me was the professors and advisors. They want you to do well. They love their job and build relationships with those who attend,\u201d she said, specifically referencing Mike Larkin in the university\u2019s department of geography and environmental studies. \u201cHis culture of the night class was so unique, and he spent so much time planning the course it was very memorable. I still talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For current students, she said she’d encourage them to \u201cbe present and embrace the hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you are in class or on campus make an effort to be fully there. Learn what you can from your short time in each class,\u201d she said. \u201cAsk your professors questions…but don\u2019t take it all so seriously! Oh, and make sure you hike a trail behind you – some of them were built by former students (me being one of them)!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nature has always been a part of Melanie Riffle\u2019s life. Now, as a sixth-grade teacher at Ute Pass Elementary School in Manitou Springs School District, she works to bring her passion for the outdoors to her students. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":161149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,427,47],"tags":[370,369,82,293,332],"class_list":["post-161133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-alumni-stories","category-education-and-public-affairs","tag-alumni","tag-alumni-success","tag-college-of-education","tag-department-of-teaching-and-learning","tag-more-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2024_Melanie-Riffle_TLRN.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-FUV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=161133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161152,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161133\/revisions\/161152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/161149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=161133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=161133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=161133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}