2014 No Snow-Snow trip

      During the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the Inspiring Young Emerging Leaders team (I-YEL) drove to Yosemite National Park for our annual snow trip. It was like a blast from the past. Our returnees had flashbacks to the previous year because there also was no snow! 

     We un-packed our bags and some interns explored the cabin while others prepared to lead their first lesson plans. Our first lesson plan of the trip was themed "New Year, New Goals," and we played a fun game of capture the flag. Afterwards, we had time to reflect on our past year and write a letter to ourselves about new goals we wanted to achieve in 2014. The next group challenged our minds through a Martin Luther King Jr./ Black History Month themed game of Jeopardy. The room was filled with many animal noises, which acted as a buzzer, as a result of the competitive I-YELers. After the intense and educational game of Jeopardy, we waited for our first nights meal, hamburgers and mac-n-cheese. After dinner, we participated in a star gazing activity led by the accompanying staffs, Guilder and Ilana, where we looked at the stars and told myths and scary stories.

      On Sunday, I-YELers woke up for an early and long drive to the Yosemite Visitor Center to get stamps for their national parks passports. We then took a short walk to lower Yosemite falls where the third lesson plan group taught us about the history of Yosemite through playing a modified version of Do You Want to Be a Millionaire. A little while later, the team took a short van ride to Curry Village, located inside Yosemite Valley, to go ice skating. We took a long van ride back to our cabin where our fourth and last lesson plan group prepared their activity. In the activity, we worked together to get across melting icebergs and were forced to jump over electric fences to get away from zombie bears. We also learned about how global warming is affecting the world, but specifically the polar bears. The rest of the night was spent bonding with other members and some interns played an interesting game of silent library.

  On the last day of the No Snow Trip the team woke up for breakfast and was able to clean up the cabin in under 45 minutes! The coordinators then led a props reflection activity where we gave each other appreciation for doing an outstanding job.