GPI BLOG
Winter Solstice Newsletter
Happy Winter Solstice!
Thank you for being a part of GPI! As a result of your help, we are adding the 8th ring of growth! With thewinterdarkness, tree growth slows and the dark rings are formed. In summer months, trees form light rings as there is more sunlight available. Abundance of resources (light, water, nutrients) and threats (disease, insects, fires) determine the size of rings. We have been steadily growing and adding new programs as resources are available (funding, gear, access, staffing). Withwinter, we are using this time to run programs in the snow while also planning for our future growth. This past year, we have added more outdoor programs (350 outings), more workforce opportunities (80 days), and more trainings to have a broad impact.
In 2023, we will be expanding our workforce programs, recreation programs for youth, and school programs with new support in the Darrington and Concrete School Districts. In order to support this growth, our roots are reaching out to establish ourselves. We will be adding our first additional permanent staff (besides myself), with at least 3 more positions in outdoor education, workforce development , and recreation! We have been successful due to your support. In this next phase, your continued partnership is vital to our continued success as we work to connect youth to theit community ecosystems.
Thank you and wishing you a wonderful 2023!
– Oak Rankin, Executive Director
Glacier Peak Institute's Year in Review
GPI had a great year! We wanted to reflect on all of the good times spent with youth in the outdoors this year, so we put together this video with some highlights. We hope you'll enjoy reflecting on 2022 with us!
Working With Concrete School District
We have partnered with the Concrete School District for another year of outdoor education programs! This quarter, we assisted the Concrete Science Teachers to facilitate a lesson on diversity and abundance of fungi in the forest and fields surrounding the Concrete Schools by utilizing quadrats. After the lessons, the teachers exclaimed “we absolutely could not have done these lessons without GPI staff and are extremely grateful.” Over the next few months, GPI will be increasing programs led in Concrete by facilitating in-school lessons with the elementary school in addition to the high school, and will be implementing weekly after school programs for youth.
– Kim Zemel, Outdoor Education Manager
Programming Updates
With the days growing shorter, GPI helped light up the local library with an afterschool luminary decorating program. Following some snowy shenanigans at the Sauk Avenue greenhouse, we walked over to the Darrington Sno-Isle Library and got to work creating colorful, nature-themed designs. Thank you very much to the Skagit Watershed Council for sponsoring this program by provide the wonderful art supplies! Using tissue paper and glue, youth worked to cover their luminaries while reflecting on favorite memories, places, people, and activities in the outdoors.
As our luminaries dried, our friends at the library showed youth what they had access to through their student accounts: books, movies, audiobooks, homework help, and more! We wrapped up by placing lights in each luminary and taking a moment to appreciate them with the lights off. Notably, as we were heading out, one youth commented that we were leaving “heaven”.
– Hannah Dreesbach, Program Support Coordinator AmeriCorps
As we have been spending more time with classes at Darrington Elementary, it has been wonderful to observe the students as they continue to learn and grow. Their excitement as they line up before each forest lesson is infectious, it reminds me each day what a privilege it is to be able to share with them the infinite ways the natural world is connected to our own.
As the year comes to a close, our in-school programs have been going better than ever. Some highlights have been building beaver dams with 4th graders, conducting experiments using snow with 2nd graders, and making “bird feathers” out of paper with 1st graders.
The snow has been a big topic of interest for our outdoor forest lessons in the past few weeks. While there have certainly been a number of distractions brought by the snow, it has also provided us with unique opportunities for teaching. One such example was building igloos with one class in order to learn about insulation after a day of particularly heavy snowfall. The lesson also served as an important lesson in teamwork and cooperation, students took to various roles collecting supplies, laying blocks of snow, and communicating their design strategies and ideas.
– Dan Dussenberry, Program Support Coordinator AmeriCorps
Currently, we are working in collaboration with educators here in the region to develop and implement an educational curriculum that is community-centered and trauma-informed for the Darrington School District. These efforts have supported the continued implementation of the school-based gardening program that Glacier Peak Institute provides to the Darrington School District through their greenhouse.
Our efforts in the district are an incredible opportunity to engage with Darrington youth in their context, as this fall, we reached over 220 students - ranging from pre-K to 5th grade. We are also integrating our findings into our broader programmatic strategy at GPI, which provides place-based education for young children in the region, while also focusing more broadly on science, technology, recreation, engineering, art, mathematics, and skill-building (STrEaMs).
Through our efforts, we’ve had the opportunity to create empowering and encouraging learning experiences together that use trauma-informed strategies to support children’s relationship to food, while also creating a foundation to support food sovereignty in the region for generations to come.
– Dalton Meister, Greenhouse and Nutrition Coordinator AmeriCorps
We are Hiring!
Are you passionate about the outdoors and youth empowerment? Do you want to live in a welcoming community located in the heart of the North Cascades? Apply to work with Glacier Peak Institute!
We are currently hiring for a number of roles:
You can view all of our open positions on our website here!
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!