Voyageur Trail Mail-September 2021

Greetings VOBSters,

Our summer season has officially wrapped up here at VOBS. Words like creativity and flexibility come to mind as we reflect on this summer season. We are grateful to all the VOBS crew for their hard work to provide students with life changing programs.

As we round out one season, we dive head first into our fall season. Many of you may have heard about the Greenwood Wildfire in northern Minnesota (about 10 miles south of our Homeplace basecamp). Through the effort our VOBS staff and the support of the Ely Community, we were able to prepare as best we could for a potential basecamp evacuation; and thanks to the amazing crews fighting these fires, we avoided having to evacuate Homeplace.

Unfortunately, due to the proactive temporary closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the continued risk of wildfires in the area caused by this year's record drought, we made the difficult decision to cancel our fall Boundary Waters courses. The Texas season will continue as planned, and we moved some courses down there to accommodate many of the students and staff whose courses were affected by this decision.

We'd like to express our continued appreciation for this remarkable VOBS community. We couldn't do this year without you.

Gratefully,
Your VOBS Crew

Things We Love

These 12 national parks with amazing wonders through National Geographic, also good for a random trivia game with friends or family
The Upside of Outside: Learning Beyond the Classroom event through OBUSA
The Next Generation of Parks Series through the Minneapolis Parks Foundation
30 things you should know about veggies by the time you're 30... we admit that we knew like five of these - #AlwaysLearning
Our very own VOBS alumni finding joy through challenge and proving it through 15 incredible photos - case in point below (photo credit: Mac Gaither)

Texas Big Bend Leadership Semester

Head down to the great American Southwest to backpack through the desert of Big Bend and paddle through the canyons of the Rio Grande. In addition to the extended canoeing and backpacking expeditions, this semester course includes canyoneering, rock climbing and rappelling. The length of this course allows for ample time to examine and develop personal goals, leadership styles, problem solving techniques, effective communication, group processing and an ethic of service.
Photo credit: Mac Gaither

ON THE BLOG

Together is Better
Together, we became friends; we bonded.

We had a chance to be together.

After this year, it was so important to do this together.

I am so proud of us, how we worked together.

I can't believe what we did together.

I didn't think I could do this, but we did this together.

"There’s a theme here. It’s not new, but, given the year and half we just lived through, it’s pretty remarkable. Click the button below to read more about how students found belonging on their VOBS expedition."