News
Boojum Marks Third Consecutive Year of Growth
As we arrive at the end of 2011, Boojum is very excited to announce that we experienced another year of positive growth, more than 60% over the last three consecutive years! Guided by our non-profit mission and grounded in our values, we demonstrated once again that Boojum provides relevant life shaping experiences for our youth even in these difficult economic times. Here are some quotes from the field:  "I appreciate the wilderness so much more and realize that we're all a part of something bigger than ourselves!" -Student, Katherine Delmar Burke School
"Thank you for letting our students make mistakes and face consequences- they need that type of learning experience." -Chaperone, Chandler School "Best I've seen (14th year of outdoor trips with kids)." -Chaperone, Windrush School "Super duper receptiveness. Roddy, the instructor, was fantastic! Fantastic program, we will be back. Excellent - lots of wonderful food and fresh fruit." Chaperone, Linfield Christian School "I got to experience where my limits are and I got to learn what nature really is like. I would have liked to push myself a lot more than I did." -Student, LAUSD, Salvation Army Red Shield We remain dedicated to our school and educational partners and our incredible field staff that help make such an impact in the lives of the young people that we serve. Working together moving into the new year, we will continue to rise to the challenge and meet the growing needs of the youth of our community.
Boojum Institute is now partnering with PlanetExplore by The North Face!
September 22, 2011
Boojum Institute has recently been hand selected to partner with PlanetExplore by The North Face. This exciting new affiliation further advances Boojum's and PlanetExplore's common goals to address the critical need to connect youth with our natural world. PlanetExplore is an online community designed to help individuals and families learn about and participate in outdoor activities and events in their area. Powered by partner organizations like Boojum that share their passion, PlanetExplore is a portal to the outdoors designed to inspire and enable people of all ages to become regularly active outside, and to develop the benefits gained through a connection to nature. Boojum is proud to be partners with The North Face in such an important cause.
Boojum Partnered with the Nation's Leading Pro-bono Service Foundation
August 18, Los Angeles, CA
The Taproot Foundation, the nation's leading pro-bono service organization, has made a commitment to partner with Boojum and award a second $50,000 pro bono service grant to the organization. The Taproot Foundation is dedicated to leading the pro bono service movement in the United States and is currently focused on strengthening the nonprofit sector in major metropolitan areas of Washington DC, Chicago, New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"The Taproot Foundation is an amazing national organization that offers critical and needed support to nonprofits like Boojum that are focused on social change," asserts Carrie Boutros, Board Chair for the Boojum Institute. "We are thrilled to partner with Taproot again!"
The Taproot Foundation's steadfast dedication to driving drive social change aligns wholly with Boojum's curricular goals to foster positive peer relationships, develop self confidence and instill environmental stewardship.
Boojum: Breaking New Ground in Experiential Education
August 18, Temecula, CA
To respond to the evolving educational culture as well as school and student need, Boojum has developed a new educational tool to enhance the educational effectiveness of outdoor education experiences upon students return to school. By utilizing state of the art HD video to capture the field experience, teachers can use the video post program to supplement their reflective exercises and to enhance the transfer of the "lessons learned" while out on program back into their school and home environment. "This is really exciting stuff," states Kurt Merrill, Boojum's Executive Director. "Boojum is the only accredited experiential education organization to integrate this educational method into our custom designed curriculum. By using the same technology that children already interact with on a daily basis, we feel that we can more effectively reinforce what students learned while in the field upon their return to their schools and communities. This is an exciting new tool we have developed to add to a teacher's educational arsenal."
Boojum Institute Expands Programming
This year, Boojum expanded programming by over 40%, extending its mission to many more schools and hundreds of more students. "We are very pleased and would like to thank the staff, supporters, and school partners for making such a great year possible," says Kurt Merrill, Executive Director of the Institute. "We look forward to continuing to reach young people in meaningful and impactful ways, challenging them with new experiences that help them to become leaders and environmental stewards of their family, school and community."
Boojum Institute Earns National Distinction
California's leading outdoor and environmental education provider has reaffirmed its distinguished place among its peers by earning re-accreditation for five years from the internationally respected Association for Experiential Education (AEE), making it one of only fourteen wilderness/adventure programs in the country to achieve this distinction. "Accredited Programs are the ones out there striving to be the best," states AEE Accreditation Director Shawn Tierney. "Programs like the Boojum Institute that have completed the AEE Accreditation process have distinguished themselves in the growing field of experiential education." In response, Boojum Executive Director Kurt Merrill noted. Earning this honor speaks volumes about our wonderful course leaders we are just so proud of them and all that they do in the field to deliver meaningful, life-changing experiences for our students. He then went on to say, "we are very proud to continue to be recognized as a leader in the field of Experiential Education in California and the nation."
Study Finds Positive Impact of the Boojum Experience
In a recent study, students participating in a Boojum Institute program significantly increased their environmental knowledge, self-awareness and leadership skills. These are just three key areas of growth identified in a recent study funded by the Dwight Stuart Youth Foundation. "Evidence supporting the positive impacts of experiential outdoor programs is becoming well documented," noted Kurt Merrill, Executive Director of the Institute. Merrill went on to note that, "students participating in a Boojum Experience will engage with nature and develop leadership skills in ways that will change their lives and better prepare them for the future." In a three-part program, a 50-question survey was administered pre and post program to inner-city Los Angeles students participating in three wilderness experiences that included a single day challenge course and 5-day wilderness backpacking trip through the San Jacinto Mountains. The study found that The Boojum Experience significantly impacted the students environmental knowledge, their ability to work with one another and their leadership skills.
Boojum Empowers Young Women from Foster Care
Young women from the Catalyst HerShe group based in Los Angeles recently completed a Boojum Institute challenge course program in Idyllwild, CA. The Catalyst group provides mentorship and life coaching to girls as they transition from adolescence to adulthood. Boojum instructors facilitated low and high ropes challenge course programs that reinforce the Catalyst goals of empowerment, healthy relationships and peer support as participants strive to reach their life goals.
"Every exercise gave the girls the opportunity to meet our program's goals," said LauraLynn Jansen, co-executive director of Catalyst. This program took their leadership skills and the building of their self-confidence to the next level.
Boojum's high challenge course encouraged the girls to practice their communication and teamwork skills. As two of the girls worked together to climb the Giant's Ladder high into the air, the rest of the group held their safety ropes in steadfast solidarity, encouraging and supporting them in a group belay.
"Each of these young women has had significant challenges in life," stated Kurt Merrill, executive director of the Boojum Institute. "This program is designed to help bring out the confidence and self-reliance in each of these young women. They are truly amazing individuals and are an inspiration to us all." To visit the Catalyst Youth Leadership Project and pictures of their Boojum Experience on Facebook click here.
Warren Christopher Scholars Explore the Coast with Boojum
July 30, Santa Barbara, CA
Fourteen of the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Warren Christopher Scholarship recipients joined Boojum for a sea kayaking program along the Santa Barbara coast. The Warren Christopher Scholarship Fund was established in 1992 to honor Warren Christopher, its former chairman and senior partner, when he was appointed U.S. Secretary of State by the Clinton Administration. This unique, annual leadership program focused on building positive peer relationships among the scholars and addressing the challenges associated with high school graduation and college preparation. "We are so proud to work with the Warren Christopher Scholarship Fund and these incredibly gifted young scholars," states Kurt Merrill, Executive Director of the Boojum Institute. "Their personal stories are simply amazing! We are very excited to provide this educational opportunity and to assist them as they prepare to matriculate into college and university life."
Secretary Christopher is an alumnus of Hollywood High School in the LAUSD, and the fund provides scholarships every year to 8 to 10 outstanding LAUSD high school sophomores. The challenges facing Christopher Scholars are profound. Often attending high schools with exceptionally high drop-out rates and living in circumstances ravaged by drugs, violence, and poverty, Christopher Scholars have gone on to attend some of the finest universities in the country. Many Christopher Scholars are now teachers, public servants, doctors, lawyers, or business people - and they are all shining examples of success against long odds.
As is often the case, many of these students have not had the opportunity for educational enrichment activities as part of their academic preparation, whereas many of their academic peers have. The Boojum Institute annually provides a special opportunity for this group of young scholars to develop critical leadership skills, foster friendships as a cohort group, and discuss issues of college preparedness and studies away from home.
Boojum CEO Honored
Kurt Merrill, Executive Director of the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education and a nationally-recognized leader in outdoor education programs and risk management, was recently recognized by the Wilderness Risk Management Conference for his "extraordinary positive impact to outdoor programs and professionals. The Conference is sponsored by the Wilderness Risk Managers Committee, a national consortium of outdoor schools, guide services, organizations and land managers, all working towards better understanding and management of risks in the wilderness. In citing Merrill's contributions, the Committees leaders went on to say, "The work you accomplished has led to the WRMC annual conference being one of the most highly regarded conferences offered for the outdoor industry, and has set it up well to continue that strong level of excellence and impact into the future." The citation was signed by the Committee's members, representing a broad spectrum of national leaders in outdoor education and risk management.
October, 2008
Warren Christopher Scholars to participate in a Boojum Leadership Program
A group of academically gifted high school scholars from Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools were recognized on June 11 at the Los Angeles Public Library during the annual Warren Christopher Scholarship Awards. Ten extraordinary honorees and their families, teachers, academic counselors, past scholars and supporting business leaders gathered for the annual awards ceremony and luncheon where each young scholar was presented a $20,000 college scholarship from the Warren Christopher Scholarship Fund. As a benefit of this esteemed award, current recipients and past scholars will have a unique opportunity to participate in a three-day Boojum Institute outdoor leadership experience near Idyllwild, CA. The Warren Christopher Scholarship Fund was established in 1992 with a gift by O'Melveny's partners to honor Warren Christopher, its former chairman and senior partner, when he was appointed U.S. Secretary of State by the Clinton Administration. Secretary Christopher is an alumnus of Hollywood High School in LAUSD, and the fund provides scholarships every year to 8 to 10 outstanding LAUSD high school sophomores. The challenges facing Christopher Scholars are profound. Often attending high schools with exceptionally high drop-out rates and living in circumstances ravaged by drugs, violence, and poverty, Christopher Scholars have gone on to attend some of the finest universities in the country. Many Christopher Scholars are now teachers, public servants, doctors, lawyers, or business people - and they are all shining examples of success against long odds. As is often the case, many of these students have not had the opportunity for educational enrichment activities as part of their academic preparation, whereas many of their academic peers have. The Boojum Institute will provide a special opportunity for this group of young scholars to develop critical leadership skills, foster friendships as a cohort group, and discuss issues of college preparedness and studies away from home. "We are so proud to work with these incredibly gifted young scholars," states Kurt Merrill, Executive Director of the Institute. "Their personal stories are simply amazing! We are very excited to provide this educational experience and to assist them as they prepare to matriculate into college and university life."
We are excited to announce the winners of the Spring Photo and Video Contest!
The winners are in!!
We are excited to announce the winners of the Spring Photo and Video Contest! The Boojum staff submitted some incredible photos and footage this season. There was so much great material to choose from... The Boojum Spring Photo winner is:
Robin Depke for this amazing shot from our March Friday Night Live challenge course program.
Spring Photo Winner
The winner of Best Video Footage for Spring is:
Laura Risk for the incredible video she took on the Milken Community High School Colorado river program. Robyn used your footage to create this program video:
Milken River Program Video
Thank you to ALL OF YOU that have submitted such wonderful photos and video!! Keep it coming!!
Over 150 guests and 35 volunteers ROCK Boojum's Ropes Course Open House!
We want to thank everyone for such an awesome high ropes course open house day - Zip lining, the high V, pipe traverse, nature hikes, raffles, great food and lots of fun and laughter!! Keep checking our Facebook page to tag and comment on your favorite photos and videos. To the 150+ children and adults and over 35 volunteers, thank you again for making it such a wonderful and memorable day!!! Boojum Open House Video
Boojum Videos Released - Experience the excitement of our Programs!!
Are you excited about Boojum!? Our students sure are! Enjoy the energy of our spring programs by checking out our program videos. Videos are posted on Facebook and are tuned-in to the Boojum Channel on YouTube. "Like" us on Facebook and join the excitement!
Boojum Program Videos
Boojum Receives Three More Grants!
The Boojum Institute is delighted to announce that it recently received three new grants in support of its efforts to help young people become stronger community leaders and environmental stewards: The Idyllwild Community Fund, Operated under the auspices of The Community Foundation Serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, the Idyllwild Community Fund (ICF) works to improve the quality of life for residents of Idyllwild. The ICF generously made a $1,000 grant to the Boojum Institute to fund a presentation of our Honeybees and World Health program featuring live honeybees to students of the Idyllwild Elementary School as part of the schools science programming. The Desert Legacy Fund The Desert Legacy Fund (DLF) promotes ...the awareness and conservation of desert parks, wilderness, and other natural open spaces in the California desert. Operated under the auspices of The Community Foundation Serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, the DLF made a grant of $3,000 to Boojum to take a group of young people into Joshua Tree National Park for a two-day program aimed at teaching them about the fragility and importance of desert ecology through directly experiencing the desert's wonders, mysteries and ecosystem. The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation The Norris Foundation...supports programs that advance better health and intellectual enlightenment through education, cultivation of the arts, individual responsibility, freedom and dignity.The Norris Foundation once again provided the Boojum Institute with a $10,000 grant for general operating support, supporting Boojum's overall operations and services to young people. Boojum Receives In-Kind Support for Program
The Boojum Institute received generous in-kind support for the Honeybee and World Health Program funded by the Life Technologies Foundation from Mann Lake Ltd, a leading beekeeping supply company. Mann Lake's generous gift of beekeeping equipment and supplies will help Boojum carry the Honeybee and World Health program to southern California classrooms, and we much appreciate Mann Lake's support of this critical educational effort. Much thanks to these supporters and our other funders who partner with us in serving young people, their schools, families and communities. We could not fulfill our important mission without their generous support.
Boojum Institute Expands "Students Served" by 58%
During these challenging economic times, we are very pleased to be expanding programs and services to our program partners. During our summer quarter, Boojum expanded programs by nearly 40% and our students served by over 58%! Boojum is grateful to all of our supporters and partners who know that Boojum provides critical, life-shaping experiences for young people in both good and bad economic times," says Kurt Merrill, Executive Director of the Institute. "We want to thank you for the trust that you place in us and for your continued commitment to the core values that we hold so dear. We look forward to continuing to reach young people in meaningful and impactful ways, challenging them with new experiences that help them to become leaders and environmental stewards of their family, school and community."
2010 - A Year of Excitement and Growth!
Last year, Boojum engaged more youth in more outdoor experiences by expanding the delivery of our programs by 65%. Guided by our mission and grounded in our values, we demonstrated once again that the Boojum Experience provides relevant, life shaping experiences even in this difficult economic time. To download Boojum's Annual Report, please click on the article headline or cut and past the address below into your browser. Download 2010 Annual Report
Out of this World: STAR Prep Academy's Program with Boojum
...From the Star Prep Academy Newsletter...
Stronger Than Ever Last week I had the privilege to join the great majority of STAR Prep Academy staff and students on an amazing trip to Idyllwild. From the start, it was the goal of Lisa and I to plan a trip that would bring our school community together. Fortunately we found a great organization in the Boojum Institute, who was able to not only meet, but exceed our goals. I saw students shake, cry, laugh and scream, but each one of them was able to overcome their fears and work to push themselves individually and as a team. As we met for a final reflection, one student shared that as she was at the top of the rock she had just climbed, she looked down and felt safe as she was supported by not just a community, but by a family. I hope we all carry that feeling throughout the year as we continue to build a stronger STAR Prep Academy family.
Zahir Robb
Head of School
STAR Prep Academy
Boojum Institute Awarded Major Grant for Honeybee & World Health Program
The Boojum Institute for Experiential Education, a nationally-recognized leader in the field of outdoor environmental education and leadership development for 35 years, has been awarded a $25,000 grant for its Honeybee & World Health Traveling Programs by the Life Technologies Foundation, Washington, D.C., a program of Life Technologies Corporation, a global biotechnology tools company that includes Carlsbad, CA-based Invitrogen Corporation.
The program is intended to encourage young people to become interested in science through teaching the joy and excitement of honeybee biology, the importance of the ecosystem, genetic biodiversity and the honeybee's inextricable link to the health of our world's food supply. Through it, the Boojum Institute will bring classrooms alive with a hands-on experiential science-based education program involving live bees that focuses on the current challenges facing honeybees and the endangerment to our world's food supply. Students and teachers will also be able to continue their learning from Boojum Bees throughout the year via a bee-blog on Boojum's website created specifically for this effort (www.boojum.org). The Boojum Institute has helped over 80,000 young people and others learn more about nature, the environment and themselves in Boojum wilderness-based programs since its inception in 1975, and its Honeybee & World Health Program continues that legacy. The program also reflects Boojum's commitment to expand the impact of its programming by bringing the Boojum experience directly to schools and nonprofits, making it easier for them to benefit from Boojum's staff expertise and programming in difficult economic times.
G.R.E.A.T Kids Rock Boojum's First Program of the Season
The Boojum Institute completed a very successful program with the Banning, CA Police Department's Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (GREAT) at Joshua Tree National Park last Saturday. Boojum Instructor's Isak Ziegner and Robert Stockstill along with Executive Director Kurt Merrill facilitated a day of personal growth centered on a natural history hike and a full day of rock climbing in the Park. Twelve young adults along with several officers and the Banning Chief of Police, Leonard Purvis, spent the day supporting one another as they scaled the rocks at the Indian Cove area of the Park. "Boojum's mission is to Unlock Potential, Promote Self Discovery and Inspire Growth," comments Executive Director Kurt Merrill. "We are delighted to work with the GREAT Program and the Banning Police Department. The kids and staff were just terrific. We believe that the program will help enhance the lasting impact of the GREAT Program."
February 2009
Boojum Institute awarded grant by the Youth Grantmakers Fund
The Boojum Institute was recently awarded a grant by the Youth Grantmakers Fund, a new effort by The Community Foundation, serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties to promote youth philanthropy in the Inland Empire, to help train young people as environmental education leaders.
Shown at the YGF awards ceremony are (l to r) Tishiana Mann from North High School, Riverside; Lon Burns, Boojum Director of Development; Jessica Sayegh, Aquinas High School in San Bernardino; and Boojum Executive Director Kurt Merrill.
BOOJUM'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PUTS HIS LIFE "ON THE LINE" TO HELP CONNECT YOUTH WITH NATURE
(Temecula, CA: October 19, 2010) Boojum's Executive Director, Kurt Merrill will endure a solo, multi-day, 1200 foot rock climb in Zion National Park, UT in November to help bring awareness to Experiential Education in Southern California. Kurt will carry with him all of the supplies and camping gear necessary to eat, drink and even sleep on the side of the sheer rock face for three days. Why would he do this? Why would he literally put himself on the line to climb the Big Wall? Because Kurt is passionate about experiencing the wonders of nature and helping children and adults alike have the opportunity to do so as well. The wonders of nature are powerful, and learning how to protect nature for future generations is critically important to us all. Unfortunately many young people never have the opportunity to experience the majesty of the natural world, nor to develop their potential as future leaders. This is why Kurt is taking this opportunity to take his passion for climbing and his passion for experiential education to the Big Wall and let the world experience this extreme climbing expedition with him. The three day climb will be broadcast in segments each day on Face Book. "I will be climbing a route called Lunar Ecstacy (V, 5.10, C2+)" says Kurt. "This is a great clean aid line on the Angels Landing cliff. It is a great opportunity to bring attention to experiencing nature at its purest," explains Kurt. "How can we expect the next generation to respect and care for our environment if they have never experienced it" Speaking to the intensity level of the climb Kurt will be climbing, John Long and John Middendorf, authors of Big Walls explain, "Soloing even the easiest multi-day wall is twice as dangerous, three times the work and four times as scary as doing it with a partner."
Kurt has been an outdoor educator and administrator for nearly twenty years and currently serves as the Executive Director of The Boojum Institute for Experiential Education. Formerly, Kurt taught academic courses, administered the Outdoor Program, and developed the award winning ORION: Freshman Wilderness Orientation Program during his tenure at Penn State University. For nearly a decade, Kurt served as the National Director of Risk Management and Safety as well as the National Director of High School Programs for the nation's largest conservation corps, the Student Conservation Association (SCA).
Kurt currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Aerie School for Backcountry Medicine based in Missoula, MT, is an Accreditation Reviewer for the Association of Experiential Education (AEE) based in Boulder, CO, is the Owner/Lead Consultant of Merrill & Associates: Risk Management and Safety as well as the Owner/Chief Apiculturist of Merrill's Honeybees. Kurt and his family currently reside in Temecula, CA.
For more information about the Boojum Institute and all of the experiential education programs that they offer please visit www.boojum.org. Go to http://www.facebook.com/bigwallclimb now to get daily updates on the training as well as to view the actual climb on November 16th through 18th.
Boojum Institute has been selected for the 2008 Best of Pioneertown Award in the Junior Colleges & Technical Institutes category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA)
The USLBA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USLBA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community...
August, 2008
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