Childhood is where I learned the joys of being outdoors in the woods.

The fields.

Even in the mountains.

Those sorts of opportunities however pass right by many people.

There is a program in Boston that seeks to change all that.

Stick around.

You'll get to meet the folks who run it.

♪ Welcome to windows to the wild.

I'm Willem Lange.

When I heard that the mission of Elevate Youth is to encourage young people to explore the outdoors, I thought about my own childhood experiences.

Then I learned about the program's focus on developing a generation of diverse environmental stewards.

And I thought, we need to share this story.

Joining me to help do that is Alec Griswold.

He founded Elevate Youth.

Thanks for asking us along today.

It's a pleasure to have you.

Oh, well, if it doesn't get much colder, it's going to be a pleasure.

What's up for us today?

So we're here out in Duxbury.

And we are at a cranberry bog.

I noticed that right away.

Yeah.

Pretty amazing.

You know, it's, it's a special New England feature, right?

I think, cranberries are definitely something I think of here in the New England area.

Yeah.

And for today is part of our outdoor cooking, section.

So each, month during the year, we have a different sort of activity that we're focused on.

And then we're working towards that in the school.

And then this is sort of our capstone at the end of the month, to get outside and go explore what we've been talking about for the past three weeks.

I believe in you.

Just do it.

Jump!

Jump!

So today we're here at this cranberry bog to go learn about how cranberries are harvested.

We are going to harvest some our own, and then we're going to go over, across the road.

We're going to start a fire, and we're going to do some outdoor cooking.

My name is Alec.

Alec spends a lot of time outdoors.

It's part of his job at Elevate Youth, and that's what he knows.

All right guys, you ready?

♪ I grew up in Maryland, and grew up on a horse farm.

And, I was just lucky enough to kind of, you know, get home from school and drop my backpack and just run out the door and go make forts or throw rocks and and just kind of be immersed in nature.

And I think that really had an effect on, on me growing up.

And certainly kind of where I am as an adult.

You know, I've, I've been lucky enough to, to guide and spend time in different countries and different activities in the outdoors and, you know, it really it kind of opens your mind to, to what's out there.

So that’s the aperture there.

Alec eventually got to Boston.

He knew we wanted to work with young people and began to volunteer with Big Brothers.

What he didn't know is where that would take him.

Cool.

Should we go see if we can find the otter?

I guess it was 12 years ago now.

I became a big brother through Big Brothers.

Big Sisters.

And my little brother, Miguel, was a very shy kid from East Boston.

And I think it was our second or third outing that we decided to go for a hike.

And after that hike, he just kind of opened up and was like, you know, almost a different kid and just, you know, really kind of talking about everything that was going on.

And I said, wow, that was really interesting.

And, you know, in the next time we went fishing and it was like, you know, boom.

He's like, this is incredible.

I can do this, you know, within walking distance of my house.

So that really was kind of the catalyst of my experience in the outdoors.

And then reliving that through, you know, a young, young boy from East Boston and saying, wow, there is this power that is really not being tapped into for the majority of kids living in a city.

So that was sort of, you know, the major catalyst for Elevate Youth.

OK, Elevate youth, all make a circle over here.

When the students are outside, so is Waddy Stryker.

He's one of the outdoor program instructors.

Our goal is to, be able to introduce these activities for youth who may not have the chance to have these activities, whether that's due to location or, economic status or social status or anything like that.

And have them be able to take that as they carry on in their life.

The students are at a cranberry bog today.

Can you shimmy over to the next crack?

Other times it might be in the mountains or on the water, or at a neighborhood park.

You hope that they will become environmental stewards?

Yes.

That is our hope.

Our model is really set.

It's not a one and done experience for our kids, right?

It's a year long program and actually a multi-year long program.

Yeah.

So really it's it's creating that healthy habit of getting outdoors, feeling that sense of comfort in the outdoors.

A lot of our kids come from lower income neighborhoods.

They are about 80% youth of color.

So having that sense of belonging and that sense of comfort in an outdoor space is extremely important.

So creating that and then giving them the skills, not only outdoor skills, but life skills to reach their full potential.

That's our ultimate goal.

And when one says, hey, I want to really focus on the environment or I want to be a rock climber, then we're going to support them as much as we can.

And if one says, hey, I want to be a tech engineer, then we're going to say, great, we'll find the program that's going to support you in that effort as well.

That’s great.

I've been a part since, fifth grade.

So last year.

But with my brother, he used to do Elevate Youth when he was in fifth or sixth grade.

And I would come on some of their over the summer trips, which were fun.

Those experiences must have had an impact on Victoria.

She's back for a second year.

I like like the adventures that we go on.

We get to leave school early for field trips and, the amount of fun that we have every time we have, like, a field trip or just we’re in school.

And while you're having fun, are you learning anything?

Yes.

Like, we learn a lot of, new skills.

I learned how to skateboard.

I learned how to ski.

I learned how to take pictures with, photography.

I learned about different things in nature.

We have a couple new faces with us today.

So let's go around and say our name and maybe your favorite cranberry flavored item or food.

My name is Autumn, and I never had cranberries before.

Hi, my name is Dre.

I like cranberry juice.

I like cranberry juice with a little bit of pineapple juice.

Makes for a nice punch.

Yeah.

At the cranberry bog, we met Chaya Harris.

It's not our first meeting.

Several years ago, we filmed with Chaya on Mount Washington and on New Hampshire's coast.

She was a program director for Outdoor Afro, a national program that inspires black leadership in nature.

Chaya’s now a board member with Elevate Youth.

I'm a board member with Elevate Youth because I think it's a great organization, and it's important that our students and our young people have access to nature, that they're able to have leadership experience is in the outdoors, and that they're able to build lasting connections with mentors alongside these great experiences in the outdoors.

There's a focus on this program, on diversity, right?

And inclusion.

That's important.

Yes.

Because our young people need to know that they belong in these spaces and they belong in the outdoors.

And it's an organization that I wish I had when I was younger.

If we all look back towards the middle of this path right there, there's an area where the water will come in and fill up around the edges, and it fills up on top of it.

♪ Did some of you become mentors or sort of advisors?

So with us being a year round programs, we sort of take that mentor role because we see these kids once a week throughout the whole school year.

And even throughout the summer.

So it's very much not a we just take them out on a trip and it's the only time we see them.

We meet with them once a week after school for a for like three weeks will teach about fishing and then on the fourth week we'll go fishing.

Yeah.

So we do fishing.

We do skiing, we do this other cooking, we do, kayaking, hiking.

So just a whole bunch of different activities.

I had no idea.

What do you think of these kids?

Oh, kids are kids, you know?

Anywhere, they're just they're they're just great to be around.

Some are private, some aren't.

Some are hanging on.

Some are leading.

It's just, you know, I love it.

Takes me back.

These cranberries are for my Christmas pageant.

Each individual is different, right?

And so maybe you have, a very shy kid in the beginning.

And, you know, by, let's say session ten, you're seeing that kid sort of get more involved with other kids and making friends.

You know, maybe that kid isn't going to be, you know, a professional mountain climber or really get involved in the outdoors but seeing that evolution of a kid to, to kind of break out of that shell and then really get involved and be social with others.

That's a huge win.

Right?

So beyond sort of the outdoor skills, we're focused on the social and emotional learning skills.

So really kind of building those soft skills that make kids, you know, flourish as they move forward in their education and life.

It's a bonus when a kid says, I want to be a mountain climber, I want to be a skier, and we'll support him in any way we can.

But the real focus is, is, you know, trying to build those soft skills within the kids that we work with.

Ow!

yeah there are going to be some thorns.

Sorry.

I should have warned you about that.

Yeah.

We're going to leave the cranberry bog for a bit and take you to Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Massachusetts.

That's where the Elevate Youth folks were recently practicing their photography skills.

♪ Awesome.

Are you excited to go, for a little hike and some photography?

Watch your head.

Awesome.

Outings like this are a challenge for some families.

Transportation can be a barrier to the outdoors.

Elevate Youth vans pick students up at the school and bring them back at the end of the day.

When you're a kid living in the city, especially maybe Dorchester.

Transportation is a huge one, right?

Work here in the Blue Hills, which actually is accessible by a bus, but it's pretty hard to put together.

You know, there's no real easy way to figure out, okay, I can get here from home.

A to B.

So transportation is huge.

And I think for the majority of the families that we work with and serve, you know, their their working families, their, you know, mom and dad or grandma's is, you know, working seven days a week.

And so it's tough for kids to be able to say, hey, I need a ride.

I need to get this place.

So transportation is a huge barrier to access.

Before we pass out the cameras, what are some things we need to be aware of when we have our camera?

I didn't really get outdoors until I was in college, and that's where I really started going outdoors.

And now I would have loved to start earlier.

So now I'm in an opportunity where I can show kids this environment at this time.

Today's outing is more than a hike in the woods.

Every student is handed a camera.

They have a canvas and a creative imagination.

Oh, look at that.

It's awesome.

You can’t even tell there’s a fence in that one.

♪ I love photography.

Photography is such a great sort of mechanism to to introduce.

That's really cool.

You know, the first thing I learned very quickly is when you say we're going for a hike.

That doesn't really excite a lot of kids immediately, right?

They're like, we're going to walk around the woods.

I just don't get it.

But when you add another component there and this being a, you know, a camera, you kind of have that, that skill and then that almost superpower, right, where they're able to capture a moment and then save that moment.

And I think that's really what I love about this section of photography, is these kids create their own images.

We print them out.

They have that.

They, you know, we show them in their school.

So it's up on a big board and there's that sense of agency and excitement about I went out, I learned this, I did this.

Here it is.

It's a visual thing that they can they can point to and, and have for, you know, the rest of our lives, which is pretty powerful.

♪ I've been in the Elevate Youth program since fourth grade.

Vladimir is a sixth grade student from Dorchester.

Why did you want to get involved in this program?

Mostly because of the awesome field trips.

And the other half is just for, me to experience Elevate Youth because most of my friends were going there.

So I decided to sign up.

When I was younger, me and my brother, we used to sometimes go outside and just, play.

But, like, as I got older, I didn't really go outside as much, but Elevate Youth, like, we go outside a lot.

What kept you inside?

The pandemic mostly.

It was, electronics.

Yeah, it was just we were all quarantined.

We couldn't really go, like, all the places that we wanted to go to.

So when that number is really, really high, it makes it darker.

And you want to take it down a little bit lower.

Without programs like these, I think it will be really easy for, especially now, kids, to get stuck in a like rut of video games, which I myself enjoy video games too.

But I think there's something to be said about being outside and what nature has to provide, whether that's for your mental health, whether that's for your physical health, being outside and exercising.

And there is always a chance of losing that in our society.

So being able to instill those type of things when you're young, it can be carried out throughout their life and also throughout their kids lives and generations to come.

All right, let's see.

You got nine?

All right, let's see them.

Let's see how different they are.

All right.

Those all check out.

Well done.

Oh I see some similar ones in here, Daisy.

No, I think that's canceled.

Oh, that's a nice one though.

Look at that one.

All right, so let's see if right now is the arrow facing elliot tower?

Yes.

All right.

So that means elliot Tower would be in front of us.

Outdoor learning isn't part of many school curriculums, even though research shows there are many benefits to it.

A nationwide sample suggests about 21% of classrooms go outside.

Yeah, look at these.

Like, what do we think that is?

Some sort of what's making those?

Yeah, I like tracks.

Right.

And that’s on our list!

One of the greatest, quotes I've ever heard from one of our kids is, are we going to see polar bears today?

Right.

And I said, boy, I really hope not.

Because then we're really lost or that bears really lost.

But yeah, it's a it goes back to that sort of, you know, lack of education around the outdoors.

So there's a lot of fear if you don't know something.

So do we know the name of what animal poop is in the wild when you see it?

I still think it’s wild poop.

I think that's a really good answer.

So the word I'm thinking of starts with an S and rhymes with bat.

(inaudible) Close!

What's a animal you might have at home that is a pet?

A cat.

Scat!

You nailed it.

A lot of our kids, you know, don't have that education around the environment.

And really, what's out here.

So there is that kind of fear of the unknown.

And I think once they're able to feel that sort of sense of comfort and belonging within the outdoors, you know, that fear is easily kind of, overtaken by enjoyment.

That’s a real polar bear guys.

Oh, it's, it's from polar bear place Oh, I don't know how.

Not a, not a real one.

No, not a real one.

So you did find a polar bear.

We did find a polar bear today.

See, you never know what you can find.

Last winter, we learned how to ski.

There was, an all group field trip.

I think it was Wachusett Mountain.

And then we did a all girls skiing trip.

Yeah.

It was like, all the fifth and sixth grade girls.

It was really fun.

I love the the cabins.

They were like.

They looked like movie like and the, like all, all the girls we got together, like, we got along.

Skiing is one of my favorite.

Because it's that that real kind of outside your comfort zone moment where you can see a kid, you know, looking at these boots that he's got on his feet and saying, what are we doing here?

And looking up at this mountain And then by the end of the day, you have to pull these kids off the mountain because they're just so excited.

When I first went, I was really scared.

I thought I was going to fall because they were like, telling you to brace yourself.

And then once I finally got the hang of it, I was like, this is actually really fun.

I love seeing that sort of, you know, getting outside that comfort zone, overcoming that with the support of, you know, positive adult role models.

And then just having those kids really excited and light up and, and wanting to go back the next day.

Pretty special.

This is a cool rock.

Flat rock.

So that's what you kind of hope this program will do for these kids, right?

Absolutely.

It's like building our future outdoor leaders for tomorrow.

Well that's nice.

Do we need more outdoor leaders?

We definitely need more outdoor leaders and more outdoor leaders of color to make sure that we're able to say, hey, black people are getting outside.

Black people are doing the thing.

Yeah they are.

That's great.

And this and this, if we get enough kids to do it and mentor them properly and get them pointed in the right direction, each one will have a different interest won’t he as he gets out of this, some will be administrative, some will be leaders, others will be, who knows, maybe a laboratory technician.

Is that what you hope?

Yeah, that's such a good point that the outdoors provides professional pathways as well.

Like you said, it could be careers and marketing and technical aspects, all kinds of different things in the outdoors.

There are challenges of course, bring any large group of people together, and there are bound to be a few hurdles to clear.

♪ No, no, no.

You cannot have my sticks!

There's a lot of challenges for sure.

You know, I think in a, in a group setting, you have the behavioral issues of fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth graders.

Right?

We really focus on that middle school age.

You know, there's plenty of other sticks around.

♪ And as you know, middle school is a pretty awkward time.

And, you know, so there's navigating that aspect of it.

Right.

And, and sort of navigating all that comes into becoming an adult in those years.

But I would say we don't have any challenges as far as kids, right?

They're all amazing kids, in their own right.

And yes, some will go different directions and choose other paths, but as long as they're with us, we're supporting them.

We're giving them, you know, whatever they need to be, you know, reach their full potential.

For our go around question day, or at least the first one, I guess, is can everybody tell me one thing they were proud about themselves today and also one thing they're proud about somebody else today.

I'm proud of taking good photos of the water.

And I'm proud of Daisy because she took lots of good photos.

I think we all know that.

♪ Have you gotten any results so far?

This program has been around for a few years.

Yes.

And our students are more confident they are happier, and they know that they can face adversity and challenges from their experiences in the outdoors, and they want to keep coming back.

♪ I think that you should join Elevate Youth because you would have a lot of fun outside.

You can learn many different skills that you might need, like lifelong, like first aid and, they teach you good skills that you that you use lifelong.

♪ In 2016, Alec created Elevate Youth.

He found inspiration from his little brother Miguel.

The seeds, however, were planted long before that.

They grew from a gift of a childhood spent outdoors.

I wouldn't say there was one thing.

I think it was really, you know, something that that my dad said when I was growing up.

It's like if you're given something in life, you should be able to share that with other folks.

And that sort of stuck with me and still does to this day.

And I think, you know, I saw that problem and it was certainly something that, you know, is now more kind of public facing, that there is the problem of diversity, equity and inclusion within our outdoor space.

And it's just like, well, if you know who's going to solve this problem, it needs to be, you know, community led and really focused on sort of a youth led kind of initiative.

And I think that's really, you know, when I started to really look into it and talk to people that were that were in this, this world.

I said, you know, this needs to happen and this needs to happen now.

♪ Well, I want to thank you for you know, just having us here today.

It’s been a great.

And, I'll be thinking of, you now, and you got lots to do.

They keep us busy.

They keep us busy, that's for sure.

Well, we so glad to have you.

That was such a fun day.

And, glad we had some sunshine.

And now we got the fire.

Yeah.

So what you're doing is worth doing.

I appreciate it.

It's just great.

Yeah, yeah, but which, of course, brings us to the part of the show that I like the least when we have to say goodbye, but we do.

And so we shall, I'm Willem Lange and I hope to see you all again on windows to the wild.

Support for the production of windows to the wild is provided by the Alice J. Reen Charitable Trust.

Bailey Charitable Foundation.

The Fuller Foundation, Road Scholar and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Make a gift to the wild and support the Willem Lange Endowment Fund, established by a friend of New Hampshire PBS, to learn how you can keep environmental, nature and outdoor programing possible for years to come.

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Thank you.

♪