Positive Energy Outdoors encourages people and animal powered exploration of the outdoors. Our programs emphasize teamwork, healthy risk taking, and positive communication, creating learning opportunities that can lead to a lifetime of active adventures.
1. Positive Energy Outdoors
Duluth’s Outdoor Education Center
www.outdooredventures.org
Stephanie Love, M.S. Experiential Education
Blake Cazier, B.A.S. Teaching Earth Science
2. Positive Energy Outdoors provides
outdoor education programs
that blend physical skill building and
positive social interactions with
experiences in nature.
3. David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICSDavid P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICS
Researchers Agree on What It Takes to
Support Development
The National Research Council & Institute for Medicine list
the following key features of positive youth
development settings:
Physical and psychological safety
Appropriate structure
Supportive relationships
Opportunities to belong
Positive social norms
Support for efficacy and mattering
Opportunities for skill-building
Integration of family, school and community efforts
- Community Programs to Promote Youth Development, 2002
4. David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICSDavid P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICS
Efficacy
Communication
Empathy
Problem
Solving
High quality instruction provides youth with
opportunities to practice emerging social and
emotional skills…
…that
supports
success in
adolescence
and early
adulthood
5. David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICS
Out-of-School Time Clubs/Activities
Day Camps
Adventure/Leadership Programs for
Teens
Field Trips
School Visits/Assemblies
Tours and Instruction
6. David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICS
Key Program Outcomes
✦ Youth show a positive
attitude towards
learning.
✦ Youth learn to set goals
and work towards them.
✦ Youth develop positive
social skills.
7. David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality · PQA BASICS
Highlights
✦ Over 3,000 total youth and
adults served in all
programs in 2014
✦ Over 1,000 winter program
participants used adjacent
public land
22. Our Legacy: Serving the Community and RegionDuluth YWCA Girl Power
Fond du Lac Ojibwe School
Copeland/Valley Youth Center
Duluth YMCA
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Northland
Damiano Center Kids Cafe
Girl Scouts/Boy Scouts
Esko, Cloquet, Duluth, Hermantown, Carlton Community Education
Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute - Northland
UMD Continuing Education
East Hillside Patch Mind2Mind
Neighborhood Youth Services
Lutheran Social Services
Hermantown Elementary and Middle Schools
St. Anthony Middle School
Colegeio Ypsilanti, Puebla, Mexico
UWS GEARS Program
Spirit of the Lake Community School
Hillfest, Hermantown Summerfest, Bridgefest
Two Harbors Kayak Festival
Volunteer Attorney Program (Kids First)
23. Current Funding
✦ Public Program Revenue
✦ maurices
✦ Young Athletes Foundation
✦ United Way of Greater Duluth
✦ Port of Duluth Kiwanis Club
✦ Kiwanis Club of Friendly Duluth
25. Sponsorship, grants and
participation in public
programming allows
Positive Energy Outdoors to
continue to help low-
moderate income children
and youth in our community
explore the outdoors!
Hinweis der Redaktion
This is how we define outdoor education. That social and emotional piece is what really sets us apart from other organizations. Our programs also fill an important opportunity gap. Duluth has been recognized as America’s Outdoor City, and yet many youth do not have access to the outdoor in their neighborhoods and community. Some have never been to Lake Superior even though they see it daily.
This is part of the work I do as a consultant, and I like to include these slides because it’s important for people to know that when the best organizations work with young people, they do so in a way that is designed to meet their developmental needs. This slide talks about the developmental needs of all young people.
High quality programs also provide support for social and emotional skills, the “soft skills” that often are overlooked in the classroom. They include:
a sense of efficacy – the capacity to produce an effect, youth feeling, “What I do matters.”
Communication skills through working side by side with adults
Empathy through working cooperatively in small groups
And Problem Solving through challenging activities.
All of these skills support success in early adulthood.
PEO helps youth practice these skills using the outdoors as a classroom.
Our program areas! Tours and instruction for the general public as well as corporate group programming is our main source of program revenue.
This is what happens when youth participate in our programming!
Here are how many people come to our programs. This photo is of girls from the YWCA Girl Power program.
And of course, our programs are FUN!
A little about sled dogs—we just started our fall ATV training on Friday. Did you know the dogs will run 600-1,000 miles pulling this ATV before the snow comes? There are 55 dogs in our kennel, and they are all Alaskan huskies (fancy name for a mixed breed) that have been adopted from racing kennels where the musher has retired, downsized or the dog was cut from a team. Once at PEO’s kennel, these animals have a home for life.
This is the 2015 John Beargrease Cub Run at Black Bear Casino, a 2 dog, 2 mile race for youth ages 12 and under. Thanks to funding from The North Face Explore Fund, we helped YWCA Girl Power program participants from Lincoln Park Middle School train two teams of dogs to run the race. These are the girls racing. Elianna won the race—you can see how proud she is of her accomplishment in this picture. The girls who did not race took on the role of handler, just like in a real race. All of the girls learned to dog sled. We are looking for a 2016 race sponsor ($1,500) to support the girls again this year. Many of them didn’t have the appropriate winter clothing and borrowed PEO’s. This experience helped the YWCA better understand the needs of the girls and they did an internal clothing drive to make sure the girls had what they needed to be outside in winter.
We created new trails on our 35 acre property in 2015—they are amazingly beautiful.
This is skijoring—cross country skiing with a dog pulling. Boo Joe in the photo is a German Shorthair Pointer Husky Cross who came from a sled dog kennel in Iowa as puppy when his owner retired from racing.
We take many groups ice climbing each winter. This is at Gooseberry Falls State Park. It’s an amazing corporate adventure.
PEO has waterfront on Fredenberg Lake, where we teach inland lake kayak skills for families, groups and our campers. We are excited to offer a new program starting in 2016 using a 10 passenger 25 foot Voyaguer Canoe.
We also have stand up paddleboards—kids love them!
If you haven’t been on Lake Superior in a stable tandem kayak, we’d love to take you on a tour. We can take up to 14 people at a time on Lake Superior or our inland lake, and larger groups can participate in multi-element programming, such as a naturalist hike, rock climbing or team building activities.
We provide youth and family programming at the Two Harbors Kayak Festival and area always looking for volunteers to help!
Paddling next to a 1,000 foot ship in Agate Bay in Two Harbors!
PEO’s climbing wall is generously sponsored by maurices! Other programs areas, such as dog sledding, kayaking or Voyageur canoeing, are available for business sponsorship.
We climb in West Duluth at the Whoopie Wall—it’s a great place for first time climbers!
Ely’s Peak near Spirit Mountain is another popular climbing spot! We also climb with groups and individuals on the North Shore at Shovel Point and Carlton Peak.
A few of the organizations we serve…
Thank you to the foundations and organizations that support PEO. Learn how you can help!
Corporate group programs help support PEO’s ability to close the outdoor opportunity gap for youth!