At Explore Austin, we support daring youth through opportunities for leadership, mentoring, and outdoor adventure.
We call our youth “Explorers” because they seek adventure and opportunity wherever they go!
Join a Team!
Explore Austin is a free program for youth that qualify for free or reduced lunch. Explorers participate by joining a team of 12 kids and 4 adults (mentors). This team stays together for 6 years – from May of 6th grade to 12th grade – doing adventure activities during the school year and over summer break. These activities are called “Saturday Challenges” and the “Summer Wilderness Trip”.
What is a Saturday Challenge?
Saturday Challenges are where Explorers practice new outdoor skills, like navigation, first aid, biking, canoeing, climbing, and more! Explorers will participate in one adventure-based challenge per month to prepare them for Summer Wilderness Trips. Over nine months, Explorers will practice team-building, technical elements of the outdoor activity they are learning, and participate in group discussions about topics relevant to adolescent development.
What is a Summer Wilderness Trip?
Explorers and Mentors apply the skills developed through the Saturday Challenges on a week-long Summer Wilderness Trip. Summer Wilderness Trips increase in intensity each year, building upon skills learned in previous years. Traveling to premiere wilderness destinations in New Mexico, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, and Wyoming, Explorers are pushed out of their comfort zones as they live, eat, and explore in the outdoors alongside their peers and mentors.