Leadership
Our Leadership program is the cornerstone of Outdoor
Outreach programming. Through an application and interview
process, promising teens are selected to participate in an
intensive, year-long training that provides them with the
skills necessary to instruct and mentor program
participants. The program is designed to promote each
individual’s natural leadership strengths while providing
tangible academic, emotional and social support. Part of
this exciting process is giving candidates the opportunity
to teach and mentor their peers through a paid internship
after completing their training. Ten youth have completed
the leadership training and are now helping to supervise
Outdoor Outreach trips. We continue to monitor these young
leaders as they balance their part-time jobs at Outdoor
Outreach, college classes,
financial independence and the
challenges of moving into the world as working adults.
Leaders of Tomorrow...
These articles were written and submitted by
Ryan Hudson and Juan Herrera, current participants in the Outdoor Outreach leadership program.
 My
name is Ryan Hudson. I’m 20 years old and have been part of
Outdoor Outreach for five years. As far back as I could
remember I grew up in and out of homeless shelters and
schools, lived both on the streets and in cars. There were
briefs moment in my life where we actually had a home but
weren't lasting moments. I remember being really young maybe
8 and wandering around the city from late at night to early
morning digging in trashcans and dumpsters in the backs of
apartments not knowing exactly what I was looking for. I'd
see my mom with tears in her eyes every night, everyday.
When I was 15 I moved into Toussaint Teen Center, a homeless
shelter for at-risk, underprivileged teens. That winter
season was the first time I had met Chris Rutgers and
learned about the Outdoor Outreach Program. They took a
group of us up to Big Bear for a 4 day Snowboard trip. It
was there that I experienced my first time outside the big
city and in the mountains, my first time ever in my life
seeing and feeling snow as well as my first time ever
strapping in to a snowboard. After a short lesson on
stopping and turning I was given the chance to go up again
and ride down without falling, which was accomplished very
easily! Chris then knew how natural this sport had come to
me and said, "Ok RY, come with me!" He took me up this lift
that went straight to the top and I thought to myself "Dude,
is he trying to kill me!" The whole way up he kept saying
how good I've gotten in such a short time and how much he
knows I could master this next run. His encouragement was a
huge plus and was in fact all I needed to do what I didn't
know I could do, the best I've ever done it. Before all
this, I didn't even know what snow felt like. Though I knew
after that day that something was different about my future.
That same season, I was offered a position in the Leadership
Program to help instruct kids in similar programs, from
similar backgrounds. This double wammy of both snowboarding
as a job and helping others with history like mine was the
perfect job for me. Every season for the next 5 seasons I
had spent most of my winter weekends in the mountains of Big
Bear and Mammoth Mountain. I was learning new tricks,
becoming more familiar with the sport, perfecting my own
style and gaining the respect and gratefulness of other
students. The Leadership Program was opening doors to those
that have been shut their entire lives. Being in my position
was rewarding in so many ways you couldn't count them with
every limb, finger or toe on your body.
I graduated from high school last year and this winter
season I was given the opportunity to travel outside of
California to live and work and snowboard everyday in Utah.
I'm planning to spend my winters in Utah working and
focusing on becoming a professional snowboarder, and my
summers back home in San Diego studying Graphic Design and
Music and working for Outdoor Outreach. I knew from the
moment I began my work with Outdoor Outreach that my life
was only going to move forward and I have Chris Rutgers to
thank for that. Without him and his idea for this program I
really don't know where I'd be, but I'm sure it wouldn't be
the best place. Outdoor Outreach has given me and those like
me the chance to grab hold of something out of their reach.
A chance to be someone they had never imagined. Now I look
back on my past and wonder, if I weren't in those situations
would I be where I am today? Without the strong fighting
will of my Mother and the giving heart of Chris and Outdoor
Outreach and the guidance of the Toussaint Academy, I would
not be who I am. I believe that how we survive, is what
makes us who we are.
 My name is Juan Herrera and I've been involved with
Outdoor Outreach for five years now. I lost my father
when I was 9 years old and my mother when I was 14. I
was sent to live with a stepsister, but ran away because I
was being abused. I ended up at a teen center for
homeless youth where I lived and got my high school diploma.
Through the teen center I got the opportunity to participate
in Outdoor Outreach activities.
Once I started doing the different trips like
snowboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking and surfing I
found out I was an adrenaline junkie. I love all
outdoor activities. I've snowboarded double black
diamonds at Mammoth, rock climbed an 800-foot face, mountain
biked some of the hardest trails in southern California,
been flipped over in a class IV rapid, and I'm a pro surfer
in the making. In fact, it is my goal to surf Pipeline in
Hawaii.
The best thing about all of this is that it is now my
job. I've been in the Leadership Program for close to
four years now. I'm now an instructor for all of the
different Outdoor Outreach trips. It's great to be
able to share all I've learned and give youth the same
opportunities and experiences I've had. I have the
best job in the world. Besides working at
Outdoor Outreach, I just graduated from San Diego City
College and have received a scholarship to attend San Diego
State University. I plan to be the Executive Director
of Outdoor Outreach one day. I've been called all
sorts of things in my life: homeless, at-risk,
underprivileged, troublemaker, loser. Now I'm called rock
climber, surfer, and snowboarder. |
