When you’re a high school sophomore who has never experienced life away from home, forty days feels like a long time to be separated from your family. Francisco del Rio, a 2013 Adventure Risk Challenge summer course participant, described the feeling of leaving home like “the Pacific Ocean was ready to release its massive waves […]
Adventure Risk Challenge: Becoming Yourself
When Karla Hernandez participated in ARC’s 24-day Summer Immersion Course in Lake Tahoe in 2014, she learned that she’s capable of doing whatever she sets her mind to, and that she can be in a new environment with strangers and make them into friends. ARC was not Karla’s first experience of fitting into a new […]
Say “YES!” to Adventure Risk Challenge
“Am I really going to do this?” Brock Sanders asked himself. “Am I doing the right thing? What am I going to get out of this?” Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC) had offered Brock a spot in their leadership and literacy summer course, but he couldn’t imagine spending 40 days away from home, hiking through the […]
ARC & Outward Bound Partner for Rockclimbing Weekend!
There were many “firsts” accomplished by ARC students in Sierra National Forest this past weekend. Students ate s’mores over a campfire for the first time. They experienced sleeping under the stars in a tent. They climbed up a 90-foot stretch of vertical granite rock. And they learned how to work in a team and encourage […]
Adventure Risk Challenge Trains Outdoor Leaders
What happens when underserved youth are exposed to “peak” wilderness experiences? Transformation. For eleven years, the ARC program has proven that individuals experience deep personal growth by facing the fears and doubts brought on by challenging wilderness endeavors. They come away with an “I can do it!” attitude—a powerful way of changing the way they […]
Only a New Beginning…
On July 26, this summer’s 40 day course ARC Graduates said hello to their families, and good bye to Yosemite. (At least for now.) At the graduation ceremony, the students presented their poems once more, translated meaningful letters into their families’ preferred languages, ate delicious food, and were given certificates, ARC sweaters, books, and heartfelt […]