Adventure Risk Challenge prides itself on connecting academics to outdoor adventure, and we do it in a variety of ways. But what we don’t always talk about is the importance of creativity in our overall mission. Creativity in ARC can mean freely choosing your turns down a snowy mountain slope or thinking about the right imagery to capture your thoughts in a personal essay. We believe creativity is essential to personal growth and exploration in the outdoors. This past week, in both Tahoe and Yosemite, creativity was on display!
On March 1st in Yosemite, four ARC students—Dahlia, Brock, Kiauna, and Francisco—were given an ‘Honorable Mention Award: Sharing the Visitor Experience’ by the National Park Service in the Youth in Yosemite Short Video Contest. The students submitted a video called “Yosemite is Our Home,” which they planned, edited, and directed. The video interspersing clips of the ARC students describing their experiences in Yosemite with visitors’ descriptions of their feelings about the Park. At the awards ceremony, the video received more laughs than any other. It is evident from all the smiles and laughter throughout the movie that the students had a lot of fun throughout the filming process. Thank you, Dahlia, Brock, Kiauna, and Francisco, for all your creativity and hard work! To view the video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYTd4ChRGHw.
On March 1st in Tahoe, eight high school students and four adult staff/volunteers headed to Northstar for a day of snowboarding and skiing. The conditions were great since we had just received a couple feet of “Sierra Soft” in the days before. Our instructors gave us a guided tour of the mountain, as the participants enjoyed the sunshine and fresh snow. As we wove our lines through the trees in the afternoon, we realized that athletic pursuits of any kind are essentially a creative act. You have to choose when to turn, where to go, when to check, and when to just let it rip. It this sort of free riding that has allowed a new generation of athletes, including our ARC students, to express themselves in a creative ways in the outdoors.