Adventure Risk Challenge

Project overview: Help teens from underserved California communities connect with nature and build academic skills through the two-year Adventure Risk Challenge (ARC) Community Leadership Program, which includes a summer course in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. 

How your support helps: ARC builds bridges between public lands and high school students in California’s Merced and Fresno counties. Most ARC students live in predominantly low-income communities, have limited access to their nearby national park, and are often the first in their families to graduate high school and go on to college. Through ARC, participants engage in programming that helps them hone academic, leadership, and stewardship skills. 

Conservancy donors have supported ARC since 2011, providing opportunities for hundreds of students to experience Yosemite and find connection, community, and confidence in the outdoors. In 2020, donor support helped ARC complete the pilot year of its Community Leadership Program, which includes weekend outdoor retreats, in-school workshops, and a monthlong summer course in the Sierra Nevada. The two-year program combines core elements of ARC’s original model into an even more in-depth, engaging, and emotionally impactful experience that provides more opportunities for students who might not be able to participate in the summer course due to work or family commitments. Upon graduation from the program, participants receive a $1,000 college scholarship to support continued growth and community connections. 

According to ARC data, 98% of program graduates have completed high school on time, and 80% have gone on to college. Post-program surveys show a notable positive shift in students’ sense of appreciation for and connection to nature. Alumni have become park rangers, pursued advanced environmental science degrees, worked with our art team in Yosemite, and more. Several program graduates have even joined the ARC staff. 

This year: 2025 marks the 21st year of ARC programming. With your support, we hope to expand and facilitate three or more Community Leadership Program summer courses — compared with one in 2023 and two in 2024 — and to host a weekend trip to Upper Pines Campground in partnership with the Education and Community Engagement team for ARC youth from multiple regions. 

Project partners: Yosemite National Park and Adventure Risk Challenge