Summer Solstice Newsletter

Happy Solstice!

What are your favorite summer memories as a kid? From playing hide and seek in the forest, eating salmon berries, playing in creeks and mud puddles, working the hay fields, they center on the outdoors and the length of light. Today, there are 14 hours and 5 minutes of sunlight. Plants are growing, youth are harvesting greens from the gardens, and our summer programs are budding. This spring, we have worked our soil at GPI to strengthen, diversify and evaluate our community investments. From the new partnership with the Snohomish Conservation District we have launched a workforce program to improve air quality in the Darrington area while providing chipping services to community members and providing workforce training. Now our workforce programs are ramping up for hiring community youth for the summer. We have played, learned, laughed, and offered programs to the Concrete area in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club and Concrete School District. We also wrapped up our 9th year of programs in the Darrington School District. Our summer programs are ramping up and are offered this summer to Darrington and Concrete areas. Due to popularity and to improve planning, we have a new sign up system. We are looking forward to getting out with youth to enjoy the longer (yet, now shortening) days to explore and grow. Thank you for your support and being a part of the community. 

– Oak Rankin, Executive Director

Here Comes Summer!

With the school year over, we are gearing up for a great summer of outdoor learning and recreation! Check out the calendar below to learn about our programming opportunities for the months of June and July. Any programs highlighted in orange require pre-registration one week in advance! These programs will also have transportation provided by GPI from central locations in both Darrington and Concrete. Hope to see you there!

Green = Darrington Community Days | No transportation will be provided and all youth will meet at the Darrington School Greenhouse

Orange = Registration Required | Transportation will be provided from Darrington/Concrete and pickup/drop off locations and times will be determined by signups and the program location; these details will be sent out via email on the Monday prior. Register online at www.glacierpeakinstitute.org/summer-registration or give us a call at (360) 436-6445.

To kick off the summer and mark the end of the great school year, last week GPI hosted a cookout at Old School Park in Darrington for youth and families. It was great to see so many friendly faces! We had learning stations, art, and games galore. In this picture, GPI staff are playing a game of fire in the forest during last week's Welcome to Summer Cookout. Thank you so much to our volunteers from Windermere Real Estate Arlington for making this event a success!

Meet the GPI Summer Interns

Mel Boatright is the Forestry Crew Intern for 2023 and is a rising senior at Northern Arizona University. Mel is excited to be a member of the Glacier Peak Institute team this summer. She is an honors student studying Environmental Science and Spanish and grew up as a military brat, moving every few years. She is eager to explore every opportunity GPI can provide and to work with like minded young people interested in investing some good into their world. Mel is also an avid painter, hiker, and helicopter parent to her dog.

Hayley Simpson is from Memphis, Tennessee and is a junior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville studying Conservation Psychology. After volunteering at local nonprofit Beardsley Community Farm and working as a research assistant for the Tennessee Reading Research Center as well as East Tennessee Environmental Educators, she became interested in youth outdoor experiences and environmental education. She hopes to build strong relationships with the GPI Team and better understand strategies for teaching and learning through sustainable recreation.

Maris Toalson is a student at the University of Oregon who is studying journalism, political science, and science communication and pursuing a certificate in outdoor leadership. Outside of the classroom, you can find her participating in one of her many (probably too many) outdoor hobbies such as skiing, rock climbing, backpacking, and more. She also enjoys reading and crocheting when she’s not climbing mountains. Maris is excited to join the Glacier Peak Institute this summer to combine her love of the outdoors with her passions for social and environmental justice and working with people.

Jared Wireman is originally from the west side of Washington and is excited to be back for the summer working with GPI.  He is currently wrapping up a Bachelors of Arts in Outdoor Recreation Leadership from Eastern Washington University. He has been passionate about the outdoors since he was young and enjoys being able to teach people new skills so they can maximize their time in the outdoors. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, whitewater rafting, mountaineering, snowboarding, and overlanding.

GPI with Concrete Pre-K and Kindergarten

This past May and June, Glacier Peak Institute had the opportunity to work with the Head Start, Transitional Kindergarten, and Kindergarten classes at Concrete Elementary School. All of our lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards and were leveled based on student ages. Our main lesson themes were weather, the sun, spring, and butterfly life cycles. Students also learned about the interconnectedness between the themes; for example, how the sun's warmth changes the weather and how butterfly life cycles are linked to the seasons.

All in all, GPI's science and art learning programs reached about 75 students ages 4-6! It was so great engaging in outdoor learning with the young kids as they were so geared up to be hands-on, explore the world using their senses, and engage with tactile learning. Some of our fun activities included building caterpillar shelters, making craft butterflies, and releasing mature butterflies into a butterfly garden! 

– Bailey Huff, WSC Program Support Coordinator, and Julie Stone, Outdoor Education Curriculum Manager

Chipper Days

Our Darrington Chipper Days program, in partnership with the Snohomish Conservation District, has been running since May 20th in an effort to increase air quality by encouraging landowners to not only thin their land and create slash piles, but to also chip their slash piles instead of burn them. Landowners get to keep all of the chips produced on their property, and the chips created at our main site at the Darrington Airport are free for the public to pick up.

Our program ends on June 25th with a big chipper event at the airport from 8AM until 1PM. Over the course of our program we have helped countless residents who have dropped off piles to our airport site, and a handful of properties we took our chipper to in an effort to make chipping more accessible to our community. We have produced over 4,500 ft^3 of chips and helped thin out over 135 acres of land, making it more resistant to intense wildfires. Please let us know if you are interested in this program as we will be applying to receive more grant funding for this program next year, and we have a waitlist! Hope to see you at our final Chipper Days event on the 25th!

– Maia Inniss, Chipper Crew Lead

Backpacking with Darrington High School

While many of our programs center on our elementary and middle-school aged youth, spring has carried with it some exciting opportunities to get the local high school students outdoors. Working with GPI staff and DSD teachers, youth in the Darrington High School Outdoor Club have been able to plan, prepare for, and venture out on a three-day, two-night backpacking trip in the Circle Peak and Crystal Lake region. Watching youth engage with each aspect of this process – from risk management discussions to gear preparation to tackling the physical and mental challenges presented by a hard hike – has been a reward all on its own... Bagging Circle Peak with the youth will be another.

– Hannah Dreesbach, WSC Program Support Coordinator 

Get Involved!

Interested in volunteering with us? Want to support GPI programs and events? Email us at info@glacierpeakinstitute.org or click here for more information!

Glacier Peak Institute will once again be hosting our Military Teen Adventure Camp in July and we are in need of more counselors for the boys' cabins. These volunteers are needed for the second week of camp running from July 18-21 with a training day on July 17. Please reach out to 4h.militarycamps@wsu.edu with any questions!