Welcome to BUOE

Buffalo Urban Outdoor Education encourages individual growth and discovery through interactive learning and shipboard education. BUOE serves youth and the Great Lakes community in the classroom, on the shores and on the water.

The Buffalo Urban Outdoor Education (BUOE) Foundation was founded in December 2008 by two experiential educators, Capt. Kate Mini and Capt. Richard Hilliman II. The BUOE Foundation was born to provide the students of Buffalo and the surrounding areas with quality, hands-on, standards-based environmental education on Lake Erie and its waterfront during a period of increasingly narrowing educational priorities.

"Learning about the environmental challenges Lake Erie faces while floating right on top of it gives students a profound connection not only to the science they are learning but to their place in the natural world and their role in protecting it. Further, having these experiences on a traditional sailboat connects students to their city's and nation's seafaring history. We are trying to inspire awe as well as promote experiential learning and environmental stewardship."

-Director Kate Mini



Scholarship/fee assistance application