We are excited to announce our 2013 Adventure Treks Instructor Team. This year we will have a total of 70 instructors. They average 27 years old, hail from 21 different states and collectively have 220 years or an average of over 3 years of Adventure Treks experience apiece. Over 60% of last years instructors will be returning this year. (Our return rate has exceeded 60% for the past 18 years.) Every instructor has at minimum a Wilderness First Responder medical certification and several instructors are trained as Wilderness EMT’s. All have significant experience working with youth outdoors. More importantly, they are impressive role models.
Virtually every instructor is a college graduate and 28% hold or are working towards an advanced degree. During the rest of the year our instructors are teachers, graduate students, ski instructors, professional ski patrollers, professional mountain guides and professional outdoor educators. There is also a doctor, a school founder, a personal trainer, and a college professor. We have instructors who have biked across the country, paddled the Mississippi River, hiked the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail and lived, worked and traveled all over the world.
We began with over 600 applicants to hire the 28 instructors who will be new to us this year. Each new hire had three separate interviews, four reference checks and a thorough background check. We are excited to welcome these folks to our Adventure Treks community. They are an impressive group and have much to add to our team. Having personally interviewed every new instructor, I am excited to watch these outstanding and committed role models inspire our students.
Our senior staff; trip leaders and regional directors begin a four day retreat near Mt Hood in Oregon on June 5th. Our entire instructor team meets north of Portland on June 11 for 7 days of intensive orientation. On June 17, our instructor team breaks into their 6 person staff teams to do an additional week of trip specific training before they greet their students.
There is something about the camaraderie of Adventure Treks instructors that makes us friends beyond the summer. Being role models, we know that the energy we invest in building close friendships with each other and the kindness and respect with which we treat each other filters down to our students. One of the reasons, we have a lengthy orientation is so we can build relationships that will help us work better together during the summer. When we watch our students treat each other with great respect and form close communities, we know we have done a great job modelling.
We are excited for the summer to begin.
Best, Dock