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Mt. Ashland Ski Area / Environmental / YOUTH SUMMER SERVICE PROGRAM
Youth Summer Service Program
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For a program application... click here. |
Application deadline is Thursday, June 10, 2010.
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This year's program dates |
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Session #1 |
July 19-22 |
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Session #2 |
July 26-29 |
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Session #3 |
August 2-5 |
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The Youth Summer Service Program is offered to incoming 8th and 9th grade Rogue Valley teens.
This is a FREE program, including FREE transportation from Medford and Ashland.
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Those who successfully complete the program will earn:
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20 hours community service credit
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A discounted $175 season pass.
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Participants will be chosen based on their application, references and availability.
Each session is limited to approximately twelve participants.
For sixteen years the Mt. Ashland Youth Summer Service Program has provided local teens an opportunity for hands-on stewardship of this rare and beautiful place. The program consists of three 4-day sessions held from mid-July through early August.
Each session tackles projects such as litter removal, erosion control and preservation. Working as a team participants make a positive impact and learn about their environment. Much of each day is spent outdoors on enhancement work projects, environmental education and cooperative play.
For more information email Ada Rivera at arivera@mtashland.com.
Program History
There can hardly be a more accurate description to state that the YSSP started from a "grassroots" effort. Conceived entirely by volunteers, the inaugural program was launched in the summer of 1994. A founding member of the Mt Ashland Association (MAA), Dr. Stewart McCollom was concerned that disadvantaged youth in the Rogue Valley needed a way to work for their season ski pass during the summer. In the beginning, the ski area was simply donating skiing and snowboarding privileges to needy youth upon request. These kinds of donations were not uncommon for a community-owned, 501(c)3 non-profit organization, but some questioned whether or not this act of altruism met the goals of MAA. Hard work, service and stewardship were the values which needed to be integrated into the act of acquiring skiing privileges. It was felt that if people wanted something, they needed to work for it. Giving away privileges did nothing more than promote a feeling of entitlement, which was not something Mt. Ashland wanted to endorse.
At his own expense, Dr. McCollom transported participants and gear up to Mt. Ashland. He and other Mt. Ashland staff acted as crew leaders for the work group. Initially, the program was a means to an end: the sole reason for kids participating was to get a season pass. But over time, the kids came to Mt. Ashland for other reasons - valuable projects such as re-vegetation on the slopes, erosion control, slope maintenance and litter clean-up began to make a noticeable difference in the area's appearance and health. It was evident that the program focus would evolve into something other than a summer work crew.
The objective of the Mt. Ashland Youth Summer Service Program is to create tangible connections between youth and their environment. In doing so, young people learn about the Mt. Ashland, help conduct ski area enhancement projects, develop a sense of environmental awareness and stewardship, participate in community service, have fun and develop friendships.
Most importantly, we wanted our youth to understand Mt. Ashland's stewardship belief – that fun and recreation should not be disconnected from responsibilities and hard work. In doing so more than 300 youth have experienced hands-on stewardship and now have a sense of ownership for their community ski area. Often kids ski and slide down the slopes oblivious to what it takes to care for and manage a resource. Most kids simply take this for granted. The Youth Summer Service experience challenges them to view things from a different perspective.
Program accomplishments have also been important in controlling erosion, continuing to maintain the overall health of the city of Ashland's watershed, improving the aesthetics of the area and achieving slope maintenance objectives. Most important, educating kids about the environment and the value of community service has created young stakeholders of the Mt. Ashland Ski Area and helps further a legacy of stewardship.
In 2001, Mt. Ashland's Youth Summer Service Program (YSSP) was recognized among all the ski areas in North America by receiving the Silver Eagle Award presented by Mountain Sports Media for Excellence in Environmental Education. Said the judges, after reviewing programs from ski areas in the US and Canada, "The benefits of its summer youth program are two-fold; getting local kids to work on the mountain and helping them to earn season ski passes, which they could not otherwise be able to afford. Most importantly, the Mt. Ashland Ski Area is teaching students that recreation comes with responsibilities. A good life lesson."
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Learning a lesson in Geology |
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Taking stream measurements |
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Planting native grass plugs with jute netting to help hold them in place |
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Installing a big waddle to divert spring run-off into undisturbed areas - mitigating erosion. |
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Another erosion control measure is constructing water bars that are reinforced with granite rocks to divert spring run-off. |
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