Alaska
Climate & Conservation
Travel to rugged Alaska this summer, where North America’s tallest peaks tower over massive glaciers, wild rivers wind through spruce forests and alder thickets, and the tundra seems to go on forever. Discover these spectacular landscapes and the wildlife that inhabits them—from moose and grizzlies to seals and otters. Get a first-hand look at the effects of climate change on these landscapes, ecosystems, and communities, and learn how to communicate climate realities effectively. Work with scientists, scholars, and local communities, learn about Alaska Native cultures and heritage, and embrace adventure as you trek across a glacier, sea kayak in rich coastal waters, and hike with a naturalist guide in Denali National Park. Return home with a deeper understanding of how local knowledge is a fundamental part of addressing climate change, and how shaping narratives around climate change can lead to just solutions.
- Highlights
• Discuss the effects of climate change on Alaska’s glaciers
• Scout for moose, caribou, and grizzlies in Denali National Park
• Visit dog-sledders whose traditional sport is impacted by climate
Expert
Itinerary
This itinerary represents our best projection of the group’s schedule. However, we may implement changes designed to improve the quality of the program.
Meet your fellow high school student travelers and one or more of your program leaders in Seattle, and fly together to Anchorage. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
Begin your adventure in the city of Anchorage, which serves as the gateway to both interior Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. Get to know your group during a program orientation to Alaska’s varied geography, ecology, history, and culture. Head out for day hikes as you explore the nearby parks and the Chugach Mountain range while learning to identify local flora and fauna. Interview locals about the very visible effects of climate change and how it is affecting the present and future. Visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center to meet with Native representatives from Alaska’s 11 indigenous groups. Listen to storytellers, see demonstrations of Alaska Native games, and explore traditional homes typical of cultures from across the state.
Head southwest to the Kenai Peninsula to explore the small coastal town of Homer, situated on Kachemak bay and bordered by dramatic mountains. Spend three days at the Peterson Bay Field Station run by the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, and engage with local naturalists and scientists through hands-on experiences studying the effects of climate change. Travel by boat to a remote tidewater glacier to learn about glacier recession first hand while you navigate icebergs. Go tidepooling along rocky shorelines in search of octopus dens, starfish, and sea urchins, and scan the coast for bald eagles perched amid the treetops. Explore the bay, scouting for sea lions, otters, and puffins in the calm, icy waters and head back to the Field Station to discuss the effects of climate change on Alaska’s precious wildlife.
Depart Homer and head back through Anchorage by way of Chugach State Park. Enjoy an afternoon in Talkeetna with a visit to the Walter Harper Ranger Station, the jumping-off point for mountaineers attempting to summit Denali and other peaks. Get your first glimpse of the “Great One,” and spend the night in Talkeetna before continuing on to Denali National Park.
Travel north to the massive and wild Denali National Park and Preserve—at more than six million acres, roughly the size of the entire state of Vermont. Join naturalist guides from the Denali Education Center on a guided hike up one of the National Park trails, taking in the views and experiencing this remote and unspoiled wilderness. Keep an eye out for a glimpse of the icy summit of Denali, North America’s tallest mountain at 20,308 feet, and scout for some of the park’s astounding range of wildlife, from caribou and grizzlies to Dall sheep and golden eagles. Learn the differences between the glacier-fed rivers rich with minerals and the clear mountain waters from the Alaska Range in which Arctic grayling thrive. Go fly fishing for grayling, try white water rafting on the glacial Nenana River, and experience the braided river systems of Denali firsthand.
Return to Anchorage, stopping along the way for a guided walk at Eagle River Nature Center. The nature center’s mission is to explore our relationship with the natural world and pay homage to the beautiful nature and wildlife in the surrounding Chugach mountains. Settle back in Anchorage for the day, share your final project with your group, and enjoy a final celebration dinner together before returning home.
Fly from Anchorage to Seattle with your group and a leader, then continue on to your final destination. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
Itinerary
This itinerary represents our best projection of the group’s schedule. However, we may implement changes designed to improve the quality of the program.
Meet your fellow high school student travelers and one or more of your program leaders in Seattle, and fly together to Anchorage. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
Begin your adventure in the city of Anchorage, which serves as the gateway to both interior Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. Get to know your group during a program orientation to Alaska’s varied geography, ecology, history, and culture. Head out for day hikes as you explore the nearby parks and the Chugach Mountain range while learning to identify local flora and fauna. Interview locals about the very visible effects of climate change and how it is affecting the present and future. Visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center to meet with Native representatives from Alaska’s 11 indigenous groups. Listen to storytellers, see demonstrations of Alaska Native games, and explore traditional homes typical of cultures from across the state.
Head southwest to the Kenai Peninsula to explore the small coastal town of Homer, situated on Kachemak bay and bordered by dramatic mountains. Spend three days at the Peterson Bay Field Station run by the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, and engage with local naturalists and scientists through hands-on experiences studying the effects of climate change. Travel by boat to a remote tidewater glacier to learn about glacier recession first hand while you navigate icebergs. Go tidepooling along rocky shorelines in search of octopus dens, starfish, and sea urchins, and scan the coast for bald eagles perched amid the treetops. Explore the bay, scouting for sea lions, otters, and puffins in the calm, icy waters and head back to the Field Station to discuss the effects of climate change on Alaska’s precious wildlife.
Depart Homer and head back through Anchorage by way of Chugach State Park. Enjoy an afternoon in Talkeetna with a visit to the Walter Harper Ranger Station, the jumping-off point for mountaineers attempting to summit Denali and other peaks. Get your first glimpse of the “Great One,” and spend the night in Talkeetna before continuing on to Denali National Park.
Travel north to the massive and wild Denali National Park and Preserve—at more than six million acres, roughly the size of the entire state of Vermont. Join naturalist guides from the Denali Education Center on a guided hike up one of the National Park trails, taking in the views and experiencing this remote and unspoiled wilderness. Keep an eye out for a glimpse of the icy summit of Denali, North America’s tallest mountain at 20,308 feet, and scout for some of the park’s astounding range of wildlife, from caribou and grizzlies to Dall sheep and golden eagles. Learn the differences between the glacier-fed rivers rich with minerals and the clear mountain waters from the Alaska Range in which Arctic grayling thrive. Go fly fishing for grayling, try white water rafting on the glacial Nenana River, and experience the braided river systems of Denali firsthand.
Return to Anchorage, stopping along the way for a guided walk at Eagle River Nature Center. The nature center’s mission is to explore our relationship with the natural world and pay homage to the beautiful nature and wildlife in the surrounding Chugach mountains. Settle back in Anchorage for the day, share your final project with your group, and enjoy a final celebration dinner together before returning home.
Fly from Anchorage to Seattle with your group and a leader, then continue on to your final destination. To learn more about how we organize travel, click here.
Leaders
Meet some of our featured leaders. Please note that these may not be your leaders for the program.
Leaders
Meet some of our featured leaders. Please note that these may not be your leaders for the program.
What to Expect
Review specific program expectations here. For more general information:
Whether your goal is to pursue a career in climate science, climate communications, conservation, or science journalism, this summer program provides opportunities to dive deep into issues of climate change. Learn about how changes are impacting Alaska’s varied ecosystems, from the coast to the interior taiga and tundra; meet with Alaskans to learn how indigenous knowledge and local community experience can shape responses and solutions; and work with scientists and naturalists at a coastal field station and Interior education center. Students will engage with real-world knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, and discover how narratives informed by realities on the ground can lead to action and more effective solutions.
Pursue an independent project and explore an aspect of local culture of particular interest to you—become an expert on native flora or fauna, put together a slideshow with your nature and landscape photography, create a recipe book with Alaskan Native cuisine, or learn a traditional Athabaskan song.
This is a physically active summer travel program. You do not need to be at peak fitness to participate, but it is important that you have a desire to be physically active, and that you are excited about trying all activities. You can expect to go hiking, whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, glacier trekking, and exploring towns on foot.
Most of the program is near sea level in Anchorage and Homer, but in Denali we could hike up to 5,000 feet above sea level.
While in Anchorage, students stay in dorm-style accommodations at hotels or lodges. In Homer we stay at a field station in yurts within walking distance to the ocean. In Denali, we stay in cabins near the edge of Denali National Park. Leaders reside in the same location as students.
We cook and eat breakfast and some dinners at our accommodations. For lunches we head to the market to buy supplies for a picnic lunch or get take-away meals. Often dinners will be at restaurants.
What to Expect
Review specific program expectations here. For more general information:
Whether your goal is to pursue a career in climate science, climate communications, conservation, or science journalism, this summer program provides opportunities to dive deep into issues of climate change. Learn about how changes are impacting Alaska’s varied ecosystems, from the coast to the interior taiga and tundra; meet with Alaskans to learn how indigenous knowledge and local community experience can shape responses and solutions; and work with scientists and naturalists at a coastal field station and Interior education center. Students will engage with real-world knowledge, develop critical thinking skills, and discover how narratives informed by realities on the ground can lead to action and more effective solutions.
Pursue an independent project and explore an aspect of local culture of particular interest to you—become an expert on native flora or fauna, put together a slideshow with your nature and landscape photography, create a recipe book with Alaskan Native cuisine, or learn a traditional Athabaskan song.
This is a physically active summer travel program. You do not need to be at peak fitness to participate, but it is important that you have a desire to be physically active, and that you are excited about trying all activities. You can expect to go hiking, whitewater rafting, sea kayaking, glacier trekking, and exploring towns on foot.
Most of the program is near sea level in Anchorage and Homer, but in Denali we could hike up to 5,000 feet above sea level.
While in Anchorage, students stay in dorm-style accommodations at hotels or lodges. In Homer we stay at a field station in yurts within walking distance to the ocean. In Denali, we stay in cabins near the edge of Denali National Park. Leaders reside in the same location as students.
We cook and eat breakfast and some dinners at our accommodations. For lunches we head to the market to buy supplies for a picnic lunch or get take-away meals. Often dinners will be at restaurants.
A Day in the Life:
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening
A Day in the Life:
- Morning
- Afternoon
- Evening
This Program is Directed by
Devon Swinburne
If you have questions or would like to talk further about this program, please get in touch!
This Program is Directed by
Devon Swinburne
If you have questions or would like to talk further about this program, please get in touch!