“I was nervous, but when I saw the postcard, I felt better about going to third grade,” says student Emery Henderson when she received a mailing from her teacher Daniel Lehe before the start of classes at Hershey Elementary School. The postcard featured pictures of Lehe on his 7-week summer adventure summiting the highest points in several states.

Classmate Brock Elliott arrived at school with lots of questions: “I wanted to know what the highest mountain that he climbed and which one was his favorite.”

Lehe ascended to the highest points in Arizona, Nevada, California, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and Utah thanks to a Teacher Creativity Fellowship from Lilly Endowment Incorporated.

In California he joined a guided group to climb Mt. Whitney. “Our summit day was a brutal 15-hour day up loose rocks, steep scrambles and several stretches of snow and ice, but the stunning views made it worth the effort,” Lehe says. “Our guide expertly navigated us through the challenging terrain and the final 400 feet of the ascent, which involved some demanding rock climbing while wearing harnesses and being roped up.”

In the photos Lehe proudly displays a 3-D printed Hershey Panther logo. He plans to incorporate his travels into social studies and writing lessons throughout the school year.

Lehe hopes his travels inspire students to work hard and develop an appreciation for the outdoors. “In this age of constant entertainment and online engagement, it was such a gift to unplug momentarily and be surrounded by creation in all directions,” says Lehe. “Mountains, waterfalls and forests are such incredible sights to behold and will never be done justice when seen through a screen. You truly have to be there.”

Lehe has now conquered highpoints in 47 states. He says it’s only a matter of time before he summits mountains in Oregon and Washington, but Alaska’s Denali with an elevation of 20,310 feet is in a class of its own. “I am content to admire Denali from afar for now, but I will never say never.”

Pictured below: Humphrey's Peak, AZ; King's Peak, UT; Boundary Peak, Nevada; Mt. Whitney, CA, Granite Peak, MT; Gannett Peak, WY. (Borah Peak, Idaho shown above)