"This trip did miracles for my mental health. I came back motivated, much more than I had been in a really long time. It was as if being in nature and doing the unimaginable had cleansed my soul. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

- Yazmin S.  

pathfinders GRADUATE

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The Pathfinder Program is a collaboration with Campbell Scholars Program, serving high-character and high-academic achievers who are also aspiring first-generation college students. Pathfinders begins in the spring with seminars to introduce the power of our personal narrative, and to begin exploring the value of going outside of our comfort zones as a tool for positive growth -- with college and life readiness in mind. The programs continues over the summer with a weeklong adventure to experience the profound mental health benefits of time in nature, and to deepen our commitment to environmental stewardship.

 

The primary intention is to strengthen the bond among a cohort of Scholars that will be an important part of each others' support system throughout high school, into college, and beyond. To achieve this, the summer adventure combines reflective time in nature and an introduction to the story arts of photography, audio interviews, and reflective journal writing. This is combined with an overnight river trip on the Colorado River to inspire awe, open our minds and expanded our beliefs about what is possible for all of us.

 

The program concludes with fall seminars to help the students bring home the lessons from the summer, reconnect as a cohort, and revisit the impact all of this has had on their own personal narrative and life ambitions. In the end, we have witnessed just how much this broadens the students' goals and deepens their confidence about realizing those goals, all with the help of a group of young adults who will no doubt make the world a better place for all of us.

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TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS YEAR'S TRIP DOWNLOAD THIS PROGRAM OVERVIEW

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