Slide Outside

Crosby completed his project and finished high school as one of the top students in his class.

HAPPY NEW SKIER
GROUP CELEBRATING AWESOME DAY ON SNOW
PARTICIPANTS LINED UP FOR FRIENDLY RACE

Background Information

For his Culminating Leadership Project, Crosby wanted to create opportunities for local youth to engage in the outdoors.  He knew that many Cascade youth spent their winters inside, in front of the television or computer screen.  He fondly remembered a program that taught him how to cross country ski when he was in 4th grade, but this had sadly been cut in recent year.  For this reason, he created “Slide Outside” as a program for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students.

Implementation of  Project

First, to find an action team to help him implement “Slide Outside,” Crosby recruited volunteers from his high school classes.  In the end, he had a team of five people working with him on the project, including his brother Logan and several friends.  Next, because several of the action team members had little or no cross country skiing experience, Crosby took his action team to the site of the sessions and taught them how to ski, and then how to teach the basics to kids. Then, Crosby’s team secured permission from the local cross country skiing area and solicited gear donations from shops in Boise.  He had to travel 1.5 hours (each way) before each session to pick up the equipment and return it, but was able to find enough donations to make the program free for all of the elementary school students who participated.  His team developed a series of activities that would teach his students the basics and keep them active (and warm!) and having fun.

Results of Project

In total, 30-40 elementary school students participated in the multi-week cross country skiing program.  Each week, they received instruction from the high school students on Crosby’s action team.  The activities progressed each week, building towards an informal race on the last day.

What’s Next

Crosby completed his project and finished high school as one of the top students in his class.  He continued to pursue whitewater kayaking, moving to North Carolina to work for a summer camp program.  This fall, he returned to Chile as part of the Patagonia Study Abroad Program, spending another semester in South America to improve his Spanish, deepen his connection with his Chilean friends, and continue exploring beautiful rivers.