Introducing Empowering Education Inc.: An educational partnership with Second Nature Wilderness Programs

Andy Wilfong is a Second Nature parent. When his son was young, he never envisioned needing the support of a wilderness program, but the path his family would take would inevitably bring him to Second Nature Wilderness Programs. Many parents can identify with Andy. Second Nature was the only option that remained; an apprehensive plea for help, an intervention. But with the help of the team at Second Nature, apprehension turned to awareness. Intervention turned into insight. Andy's family broke through walls of miscommunication and dysfunction through the process that Second Nature had carefully sculpted. New levels of understanding, interpreting, and reflecting feelings, fostered deep, meaningful change in his family.

To say that Andy was grateful understates the obvious. Gratitude was not enough. He was overcome by a desire to give back, to provide this unique and life-changing opportunity to all adolescents as a preventative method rather than that of an intervention.

Public schools are doing all they can to meet the needs of students in an environment where there are more than enough good intentions but not enough money to support those goals. For all the good intentions schools may have, they simply don't have the resources to follow through. Andy and his partner, Kathryn Houston, founded Empowering Education (EE), a nonprofit organization, with the sole purpose of giving schools this opportunity.

To meet the changing needs of the 21st Century student, Empowering Education partnered with Second Nature Wilderness Programs to create an engaging and experiential curriculum for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) as a classroom based model.

The course, titled Realizing Empowered, Achieving Lifestyles (REAL) is focused on motivating positive change in adolescents via these five goals:

Increased self-awareness

Increased social awareness

Improved self-management

Improved relationship skills

Responsible decision-making

As those who have first-hand experience with wilderness therapy know, encouraging these goals allows adolescents to become empowered and accomplished in their lives. The course is based on

Second Nature's philosophies and has been adapted into a classroom based model that will inspire renewed interest in students as it will be a class unlike any other they have experienced before.

The REAL curriculum seeks to partner with school systems and to serve as an adjunct to support systems already in place. It is an academic and experiential exercise that will teach the concepts and life skills that will build a foundation for success.

EE and Second Nature recognize that a particular set of challenges face young people. Teenagers are confronted with an increasingly complex young life and are often initiated into the experiences of adulthood long before they are developmentally equipped to understand these added responsibilities. The transition from youth to adulthood is a challenging stage in life, now compounded by a broadening network of technology, peer relationships, and adult expectation. Furthermore, as this network expands, young adults are too often left without the support and guidance needed to thrive in this new set of circumstances. REAL will provide a new pillar in this support system for young people and serve as an adjunct to support systems already in place.

The first REAL course will be taught at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, CO beginning August 2010 with approximately 150 students enrolled for the semester. A Colorado state certified instructor will partner with an experienced former Second Nature senior level instructor. This partnership will allow for a collaboration of knowledge and experience and provide a richly positive experience for students.

As a nonprofit organization, Empowering Education depends solely on the generous donations of those who share our mission to bring this opportunity to adolescents across the nation. In order to fulfill our promise to provide this to schools at no cost, we must continue to seek new avenues of funding via private donations, grants, and fundraising opportunities. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation via the Second Nature website or directly through the website of Empowering Education at www.empoweringeducation.org.

We thank you. And our children thank you.