Committed to providing an opportunity for all children to gain confidence and self-esteem through participation in outdoor activities

Leadership

Our Leadership program is the cornerstone of Outdoor Outreach programming. Through an application and interview process, promising teens are selected to participate in an intensive, year-long training that provides them with the skills necessary to instruct and mentor program participants. The program is designed to promote each individual’s natural leadership strengths while providing tangible academic, emotional and social support. Part of this exciting process is giving candidates the opportunity to teach and mentor their peers through a paid internship after completing their training. Ten youth have completed the leadership training and are now helping to supervise Outdoor Outreach trips. We continue to monitor these young leaders as they balance their part-time jobs at Outdoor Outreach, college classes, financial independence and the challenges of moving into the world as working adults.

 

A Leader of Tomorrow...

Editor’s Note: This article was written and submitted by Juan Herrera, a current participant in the Outdoor Outreach leadership program.
(Photo) Juan Herrera, Leadership Program Participant

"My name is Juan Herrera and I've been involved with Outdoor Outreach for five years now.  I lost my father when I was 9 years old and my mother when I was 14.  I was sent to live with a stepsister, but ran away because I was being abused.  I ended up at a teen center for homeless youth where I lived and got my high school diploma. Through the teen center I got the opportunity to participate in Outdoor Outreach activities.

Once I started doing the different trips like snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking and surfing I found out I was an adrenaline junkie.  I love all outdoor activities.  I've snowboarded double black diamonds at Mammoth, rock climbed an 800-foot face, mountain biked some of the hardest trails in southern California, been flipped over in a class IV rapid, and I'm a pro surfer in the making. In fact, it is my goal to surf Pipeline in Hawaii. 

The best thing about all of this is that it is now my job.  I've been in the Leadership Program for close to four years now.  I'm now an instructor for all of the different Outdoor Outreach trips.  It's great to be able to share all I've learned and give youth the same opportunities and experiences I've had.  I have the best job in the world.   Besides working at Outdoor Outreach, I just graduated from San Diego City College and have received a scholarship to attend San Diego State University.  I plan to be the Executive Director of Outdoor Outreach one day.  I've been called all sorts of things in my life: homeless, at-risk, underprivileged, troublemaker, loser. Now I'm called rock climber, surfer, and snowboarder."