Pushing the Boundaries

There is an area of incredible wilderness and waterways straddling the Canada – U.S. border between Minnesota and Ontario, a remote region commonly called the “Boundary Waters,” and it’s about to meet the Crew on canoe.

While Adventure Crew has grown to extraordinary levels in connecting city teens to nature through recreation (averaging 100+ students on weekends throughout the school year), many of our students simply cannot get enough. In response, we took the smaller size opportunities during Covid-19 to go deeper, to build a more personalized and educational path to empowering the lives of city youth through the great outdoors. The result is a growing leadership program for advanced outdoor experiences and learning.

Adventure Crew Board member and Zoo Academy teacher adviser, Katie Kemme, and our partners at Camping & Education Foundation, are leading the Boundary Waters trip. After a special readiness review by our staff and taking part in “cruising school” sessions, six students were selected from among our Crew leaders for the seven-day canoe trip where wilderness entry is limited to groups of nine by the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Crew’s “six-pack” will return this month with all new skills in back country camping, portaging, fileting fish, cooking with reflector ovens and more – skills they will inspire and lead other Crew members to learn.

In every aspect of our programming, Adventure Crew pushes the boundaries for city teens. By opening the doors of nature and providing our students with boundless adventure experiences, we are helping our city’s youth grow into more confident, capable and compassionate human beings. Their lens on life expands and they come to see the world, and their place in it, in a whole new way. No boundaries. Outdoors for all.