TAASC is based on the combination of group weekly meetings and fun outdoor weekend trips. Students learn all kinds of outdoor skills as well as group leadership skills at the meetings, and then get to test it out on a weekend trip. Leadership is the red thread of the program and we weave this through everything we do.
Weekly Meetings
Our students meet once a week after school where they learn outdoor skills, get a chance to practice leadership and working in a group. The technical skills they learn prepare them for upcoming wilderness activities such as climbing, navigation, and camp-craft. Sometimes we participate in community service projects during after-school meetings. These meetings are really fun, high energy and keep students engaged!
Weekend Adventures
These trips are a wilderness experience, a community service experience, or a combination of both. Depending on the group, these trips can be full weekend trips or day trips. The trips provide our students opportunity to practice skills learned during weekly meetings and the chance to set and achieve personal and group goals. Plus they are a lot of fun!
Weekend Trip Activities
TAASC weekend trips include: wilderness backpacking mini-expeditions, climbing and rappelling, white water and flat water paddling, cave exploration, mountain biking, wilderness first-aid, leadership development, and community service.
Summer Expeditions
Longer summer wilderness adventures are the culmination of the skills and experiences gained in the year-round program. Younger groups members (8 – 13) attend a 5-day trip; older teen members attend a 10-15 day trip depending on what we have planned. Every 2 to 3 years this group does a big expedition in the Sierra Mountains and climbing in Yosemite.
“This program has been phenomenal for my kids. They look forward to the meetings every week and to the weekend trips like you would not believe. Every time they come back from one of those trips, you can tell they’ve grown a little. You’ll hear about something they did or an experience they had, and you can tell it is making a positive impact on their lives”.
-Tim McMullan (TAASC dad of 2)
