At Terrapin, we believe that wilderness experiences are unlike any other kind of summer adventure when it comes to offering opportunities for growth. During our 14- and 24-day wilderness adventures, we incorporate many of the outdoor sports that we enjoy, in order to promote our core values:
Building Dynamic Communities
We build community by working on teamwork and effective communication skills. Each adventure is created to promote positive group interactions. We all work together from the first day’s ice breakers to the last day of the trip.
Teaching Leadership Skills
We promote leadership through personal and ecological responsibility. At Terrapin, we embrace leadership training and leave-no-trace camping practices because we know that today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders. We carefully structure our adventures to promote responsibility and leadership. Whether it be learning to cook in the backcountry or belaying a friend on a climb, we give our participants the power to become future leaders. We celebrate our connection to the wild places and work to protect them through education and eco-friendly practices.
Challenging Students with Safe and Exciting Experiences
We provide challenges that are both exciting and safe. Our participants like to push their personal limits - and need to be able to. With safety as our top priority, we design our programs so that each participant can safely push his or her own limits. It is the challenges associated with wilderness travel that make it so exciting – a peak ascent, topping out a difficult climb, paddling through a Class IV rapid – these experiences are what draw us to the wild places. We also know that when these challenges are carefully structured, the results allow participants to amaze themselves.
Fostering Personal Growth
We foster growth throughout the entire experience. Let’s face it, as a parent, this is why you search for programs like ours, and why we created it. Leadership training, facing personal challenges, making life-long friends, all this adds up to an incredible summer. So how do you measure growth? We measure it by the smiles on their faces, by the increased confidence and self-esteem our participants possess at the end of the adventure, and by the testimonials we have received from parents and camp directors. That is why we do it.
– Todd Erler & Alice Ostdiek, Co-Owners