What Happens When You Replace Detention With a Hike?

Key points

Detention hikes connect students with the benefits of physical movement and time in nature.

Time in the environment supports meaningful shifts toward regulation for stressed students.

Through movement, nature, and connection, students experience accountability without isolation or shame.

Many schools respond to misbehavior by assigning detention, where students are required to sit still and keep to themselves. But one school counselor in Maine, Leslie Trundy, is offering a different option: detention hikes. Trundy’s novel approach captured national media attention when she began offering students the option to join her for hikes on nearby trails. A year-and-a-half into this novel offering, the results are compelling: Fewer students have been receiving detention since the n