Sheltering Branch Bahá'í School
Sheltering Branch is a family-oriented Bahá'í summer school, with a community atmosphere for students of all ages. The program includes three to four classes a day for children, youth, and adults, plus morning and evening devotions, singing, art, and athletic activities. Service by the participants is an essential part of Sheltering Branch: everyone is expected to participate in helping with the daily tasks of running the school.
Sheltering Branch Bahá'í School takes place annually during the first week in July at Camp Wooten Environmental Learning Center, which is part of the Washington State Parks system. Located on the Tucannon River in the Blue Mountains, this center offers hiking on forested and mountain trails, canoeing on Donnie Lake, and swimming in an indoor pool.
Accommodations include a 1930's era dining hall with a fully equipped modern kitchen, 21 cabins that sleep up to 11 people, an expansive tenting area, RV hookups, a cedar meeting hall, several outdoor shelters, restrooms, and showers.
“He has noted with deepest satisfaction...That the program had been made as varied and interesting as possible and combined as every Bahá’í Summer School should, the threefold features of devotion, study and recreation. Only through such a harmonious combination of these three elements can the institution of the Summer School yield the maximum of beneficent results, and fulfill its true function of deepening the knowledge stimulating the zeal, and fostering the spirit of fellowship among the believers in every Bahá’í community.”
- Shoghi Effendi
