Youth Education Programs

The goal of Friends’ two outdoor youth education programs—The Great Gorge Wahoo! and Explore the Gorge—is to introduce local youth to the Columbia Gorge’s wonders and significance as a national treasure, as well as tell the story of its preservation through the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act. These programs aim to create powerful memories that will deepen children’s connection to the natural world just outside their doorstep and inspire the next generation of Gorge protectors,

Questions about our youth programs? Contact Friends’ Youth & Community Education Specialist Kenzie Hammond.

The Great Gorge Wahoo!

The Great Gorge Wahoo! is a twice-annual, single-day field trip for seventh- and eighth-grade students from Portland’s St. Andrew Nativity School. Each spring, Friends takes the eighth-grade class to the Western Gorge, and in the fall the seventh-grade class visits the Eastern Gorge.

St. Andrew Nativity School is a tuition-free middle school serving young people from under-resourced backgrounds and empowering them to develop college and career readiness. The Great Gorge Wahoo! provides these students the opportunity to explore and learn about the Gorge.

In 2011, the Winthrop family established the Matthew Winthrop Memorial Fund to help fund this effort. In the fall of that year, 20 students attended the first Wahoo! trip. The program has since grown and in 2014, a spring field trip was added for the eighth-grade class. This expansion was made possible through a fund established by Friends Board Member Carrie Nobles in memory of her husband Buddy, who was a longtime Friends volunteer. In 2020, the Winthrop family established the Matthew Winthrop Endowment Fund to ensure the program continues in perpetuity.

Retired Oregon State Parks District Manager and Friends Board Member Kevin Price, who headed up diversity and inclusion programs for Oregon State Parks, first learned about this program in its infancy. “You need to get me in front of these kids so they can see that someone of their color can do this job,” Price said. He’s been a mainstay of the trips ever since.

Additional Reading:

September 2022 | Bringing Back the Joy of Youth Outdoor Education
May 17, 2018 | Listen: OPB Think Out Loud Segment: People of Color Outdoors 
June 21, 2018 | Overcoming Barriers to Accessing Nature 

Explore the Gorge

Every June since 2008, sixth graders from the Washougal School District, at the edge of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area on the Washington side of the Columbia River, have had the opportunity to culminate their school year by attending a multiday outdoor school and explore the geological, cultural, and ecological wonders of the Gorge.

Explore the Gorge fosters students’ relationships with these wild places through interactive games and educational activities, aiming to inspire the next generation of Gorge stewards.

A memorial gift from longtime supporter and member Phyllis Clausen in honor of her late husband established the program. When schools started to lose funding for their own outdoor school programs, Phyllis, who has a strong background conservation work, saw a local need for environmental education. She worked with Friends to establish the Vic Clausen Youth Education Fund. Explore the Gorge has since been offered free of charge to more than 2,200 students, operating in partnership with the Washougal School District, with grant funding support from the Camas-Washougal Community Chest.

“I feel so encouraged to know that our program is growing and that in other places, too, people are remembering the values of outdoor programs for kids’ long term health and overall development. You are doing something of significant worth.”

Phyllis Clausen, founding donor of Explore the Gorge

Staying true to our roots, we continued our tradition of holding activities for students at the Hamilton Mountain and Doetsch Day Use Area sections of Beacon Rock State Park. And we had the exciting privilege of adding new activities such as a pika walk led by local wildlife experts and conservation talks by Gorge Refuge Stewards and local naturalists. We were also joined by U.S. Forest Service Rangers who led students at an interactive game station, as well as a forest fire ecology lesson.

Additional Reading:

June 13, 2019 | Camas-Washougal Post Record: Washougal Students ‘Explore the Gorge’
June 21, 2018 | Camas-Washougal Post Record: Explore the Gorge
June 15, 2018 | The Columbian: Washougal students talk about environment during Outdoor School 
June 15, 2017 | Camas-Washougal Post Record: Out of Their Desks and Into Nature