Empowering Indigenous Youth for a Healthy Future

Rising Minds closed out the 2021 calendar year by hosting our 4th Annual Adventure Camp. After two unprecedented years, it was amazing to gather in-person, outdoors, for a week of health, wellness, and educational enrichment activities. For the past two years, in-person classes have been in-frequent, distancing has been the norm, and everyone has experienced a heavier lift. Kids have felt the effects of isolating and the lack of routine provided by in-person learning. Rising Minds’ weekly adventures are providing crucial academic and wellness support for kids who have been out of school for the last 2+ years. 

Through our daily adventures, we worked to foster social emotional learning skills and competencies, such as self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, social skills, and responsible decision making. Members of our youth group romped through coffee fields, swam in the lake, and took in scenic volcanic views while learning about mind, body, and the environment. The rest of this month will be dedicated to curriculum and activity development for the 2022 school year. 

With the recent surge in the Omicron variant of COVID-19, we are continuing to expect the unexpected. Our youth group, community educator, and community partner are continuing to preserve. With the uncertainty of in-person classes, we will continue to host weekly, outdoor adventures for the foreseeable future. Themes will include health, wellness, leadership, and civic learning, and environmental conservation.