Vannaleze (Vanna) Barcelos has a deep connection to Yosemite. For her, it’s a formative place where she discovered passions for the natural world, art, and education. She describes the Park as “magical,” inspiring childhood-like awe. A 19-year old freshman at University of California Merced, Vanna has had two immersive experiences in the Park through Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC) and the Yosemite Leadership Program (YLP).
Vanna grew up in the heart of California’s Central Valley in Merced, about 65 miles from the entrance to Yosemite. Despite her proximity to the Park, she said she didn’t realize its global renown: “Yosemite wasn’t emphasized in my community. I didn’t realize how well-known it was throughout the world. It stunned me when I first visited.” She describes growing up in Merced as a place where there weren’t many opportunities. “There was a complacency. It didn’t feel like there was a lot of room for me to grow.”
Vanna applied for the Adventure Risk Challenge summer course as a junior in high school because she was interested in experiencing a new adventure and living outside of Merced for a summer, but she says, “I didn’t know in which direction I would grow.”
The ARC course is 40-days in length and combines English education with outdoor adventure. On the course, she wrote a personal reflective piece of poetry called “I am the Merced River”; she backpacked over sixty miles in Yosemite’s high country; she taught Merced Boys & Girls Club students about the Park’s ecology; and she learned to navigate and be independent in the wilderness.
Reflecting on her ARC experience two years later, Vanna says that she feels like the summer course was hugely influential for her. “I grew tremendously in my communication skills both in writing and with friends and family. The experience revealed who I truly was.” She went from struggling to share how her feelings with loved ones to opening up and being vulnerable with her eleven ARC teammates after just eight days of backpacking.
On that first backpacking trip, Vanna was also inspired to apply to UC Merced and YLP. On top of Mt. Watkins, two YLP summer wilderness interns, Rob and Hector, hiked up and led an interpretive program about Yosemite’s ecology for the ARC team. Vanna remembers being stuck by seeing how much the two UC Merced students in full Park Service uniforms were enjoying themselves. She said “I immediately thought ‘Wow! This opportunity is available to me too!”
Vanna is now a Global Arts major at UC Merced and a YLP student. YLP offers leadership training, career guidance, and exposure to natural places, while instilling participants with a strong conservation ethic. Through YLP, she’s gotten an in-depth look at the career opportunities available in Yosemite. She’s had one-on-one conversations with Park Rangers, hearing about their experiences and background and about Yosemite’s folklore and history.
Vanna’s experience with YLP and ARC have profoundly shaped how she sees her future. She now can clearly envision a career path where she can combine her love for the arts with her passion for Yosemite. This summer, she will be working at Happy Isles Nature & Art Center in the YLP summer internship program. She will be teaching three art classes per day to elementary school students and developing new lessons to get students as excited as she is about Yosemite and its natural history.
Vanna says that in many ways she feels like Yosemite and her experiences with YLP and ARC saved her. It allowed her to move beyond the social and emotional challenges of high school. She said, “In Yosemite, I saw a future for that I could picture myself in.” This summer, she will be continuing to create that future with students in Yosemite Valley.