School of the forest is partnered with G.A.L.A, a local non profit.  G.A.L.A has just celebrated it’s tenth year of operation. They’ve run all sorts of local workshops and community building events. Not limited to monthly contra dances,  A series of “Self-reliance” workshops and live music shows for the community. 

It’s a great organization and we’re really excited to work with them. We’ll be running a couple of the previously mentioned self-reliance workshops with them, as well as working with them on our longer six week, Wolfeboro based courses where students will meet once a week after school to learn all about their place in the new england ecosystem. They’ll learn camp skills, outdoor leadership and the necessities of outdoor living. At the end of the six weeks, students will take part in an overnight outing that will allow them to see how all of the skills they’ve learned in the last few weeks fit together to create an enjoyable experience in the outdoors. 

There’s plenty of other youth programs out there that offer outdoors experience, but we’re setting ourselves apart with a first person approach. In lots of other outdoor programs for kids and teens, the natural world is just a nice backdrop. Our intent is to help students learn confidence through the lens of outdoor skills that make them self reliant, and teach them things that are useful in their daily lives. G.A.L.A is a great partner in this endeavor, and we’re glad to be working with them.