Alumna in Action- Founding an Outdoor Club in the Sierras

Anna, an alumna from Tuolumne County, CA returned from her spring 2017 semester with Alzar School determined to stay involved in the outdoors.  Furthermore, Anna wanted to share the many wonderful opportunities being at the gateway to Yosemite provides to more people in her community.  Anna identified that while her community had so much to offer, many had never hiked, camped, or explored the beautiful places that surround her town.

A junior in high school, Anna is supplementing her curriculum with classes at the community college and decided that she would start an outdoor club at Columbia College.  She found a few people who were also interested in the outdoors and submitted an application to formally charter the club through the school.  Once sanctioned, Anna hosted a booth at club day to find others who were interested in exploring the outdoors.  From there, she initiated camping trips, graffiti clean-up days, and climbing trips.  She has plans for fundraising activities so the program can begin to acquire gear and club members can participate in a wilderness first aid course.

We are proud of Anna’s ability to turn ideas into action and find a way to work with the structure of the organizations of which she belongs to create the outcomes she desires.  We know this skill will continue to serve Anna and her communities well.