The Lean-To Connection
Our Community Outreach & Development Director tells the story of the impact witnessed on one of the expeditions she led during her first summer with Outside Perspectives. I was a Special Educator for ten years before I joined Outside Perspectives in 2021. I worked in self-contained classrooms with students with severe social/emotional and behavioral disorders. All ten years were devoted to connecting with struggling kids and creating ways to meet them where they were, build relationships, give them the tools they needed, and create a space where they felt safe and empowered enough to grow. And yet, I have never had an experience working with youth where the impact has been so deeply felt, seen, or evident in my entire life as I did after leading one of my first Outside Perspectives expeditions in 2021. We headed out for a four-day backpacking and canoeing expedition with a crew of 8 teenage boys who would be experiencing it all for the first time. They expected to learn to camp, co...