Summer Youth Roadshow

From sea to shining sea . . . Well, okay, not that far, but North Cascades Institute has been traveling far and wide recruiting students to join us for service learning, field science, leadership and fun in this year’s two Summer Youth Programs for teenagers!
Representatives from North Cascades Wild and Cascades Climate Challenge have been tirelessly traveling across the Pacific Northwest meeting with students, teachers and club leaders, encouraging youth to challenge themselves and the norms of high school life by applying for these transformative programs.
You would think spending up to three weeks hiking, canoeing and learning in majestic North Cascades National Park tuition-free is incentive enough to bring students running and screaming to apply. But leaving your neighborhood for an unknown land to spend two to three weeks with people you’ve never met is intimidating for many students (and their parents)!
By showing up in person, program presenters give the students a friendly face to affix to the program and more importantly, ask questions that the videos, pictures and applications bring up.

Dawn in the rearview mirror, another early start to recruiting

Crossing the mouth of the Columbia River

With early morning starts, multiple presentations a day, getting lost, eating bad road food and constantly being distracted by road side attractions, these two programs have been working hard this spring to reach students. North Cascades Wild has recruited up and down the Puget Sound region, while Cascades Climate Challenge has extended the effort along the Columbia River and its tributaries. From Wenatchee to the Walla Walla, up the Umatilla River to Pendleton, Oregon, westward to the coastal communities of Astoria and Seaside, then north all the way to Bellingham, our Toyota Hybrid has seen some miles.
To our credit, the field season is rapidly approaching and our Summer Youth programs are completely full with diverse students from over 35 different high schools and 12 counties in two states. We can’t wait to bring together the smiles, stories and experiences from all these different areas to create a community of young leaders in the North Cascades this summer!