The BC team is excited to start their adventure! You can read everyone’s bios under the “Meet Your Instructors” tab on the British Columbia Adventure trip page.
A little more about the Adventure Treks staff team as a whole:
Our hiring process is exhaustive: We receive more than 500 applications for the 24 new instructors we hire each year. Every new applicant goes through three interviews, four reference checks, and a complete background check. Many of our instructors have studied outdoor leadership or recreation management in college, and all have significant outdoor experience. Virtually every instructor is a college graduate and has at minimum a Wilderness First Responder medical training certification. More important than baseline outdoor skills, however, is that our instructors are role models to our students.
The average age of our instructors is 27, and our returning staff average 3 years at Adventure Treks.
All of our instructors have two weeks of intensive training, a week of which is trip-specific. We emphasize building a cohesive and caring instructor team because when our instructor community emphasizes kindness, respect, and mutual understanding, it filters down to our students.
Sure, we love being outdoors, but truthfully, the outdoors is merely our medium. The community we create at Adventure Treks is a hospitable environment in which we provide subtle opportunities for personal growth. Because it’s in such different territory than home, the learning tends to sticks. Students volunteer to help others; push through challenges that aren’t always comfortable; work together toward a common goal against a backdrop of natural consequences; and give and receive praise. During a time filled with frequent and shallow digital communication, the opportunities for teenagers to practice face-to-face communication with peers and learn from role models who reinforce parental values is the true “gift” of the Adventure Treks experience.