Trekkers Programs

RITES OF PASSAGE - 12TH GRADE

Trekkers offers a five-day winter wilderness trip for seniors who have been with the program since 7th grade. Knowing that these students will graduate in a few months, the focus of this trip will be to symbolically mark the end of their high school experience through a rites of passage celebration. Trekker adult mentors and the natural world will team up to help enable students to find meaning and guidance during this major turning point in their life, as well as cultivate a new vision for their lives.
VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

COLLEGE/CAREER EXPLORATION - 11TH GRADE

Trekkers offers a 10-day expedition to 11th graders who are interested in exploring some form of higher education or a particular career choice after high school. The goal of the trip is to offer students the opportunity to visit a few colleges, art and trade schools, or visit directly with people who are working in a particular career field. The itinerary for the trip will be set-up along the New England/Atlantic Coast corridor.
VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

CROSS-AMERICA TREKKERS - 10TH GRADE

Trekkers offers 9-day expedition to 10th graders during early August. The focus of the expedition is to visit, explore and study the environmental uniqueness of a particular bio-region within the United States. Examples from the past include: the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park (Cliff Dwellings), Florida Everglades, Northwest rainforests, Mount St. Helens, Redwood National Forest and many more. Along with the life changing opportunities students receive from this expedition, they are also required to take part in a pre-trip life skills/leadership course. The course is designed to help students gain knowledge and confidence in presenting themselves professionally to others.
VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

RIDE THROUGH HISTORY - 9TH GRADE

Trekkers offers 9th graders a 10-day expedition in early February.  The focus of this program is to expose students to a variety of historical events that have made a huge impact not only on our country, but also the world.  Students decide during pre-trip planning meetings the particular historical events they would like to explore.  

VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

ADVANCED TREKKERS - 8TH GRADE

Trekkers offers 8th graders on a 14-day expedition in early summer. Students participate in pre-trip planning meetings throughout the school year with Trekker adult volunteers to plan and implement the expedition. During the meetings, students are involved in team-building exercises, problem-solving initiatives, and consensus decision-making. Students design the expedition around five-educational components: Service Learning, Cultural Awareness, Environmental education, Adventure-based Education, and Wilderness Component.

The mission of the Advanced Trekkers program is to introduce students to the diversity of cultures, people, traditions and natural resources that exist outside the focus of their everyday lives.

VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

TEEN TREKKERS - 7TH GRADE

Trekkers offers 20 7th graders and 25-30 caring adults from the community the opportunity to explore Acadia National Park in May. Students and adults who participate take part in a pre-trip, 3-week orientation program where they are involved in team-building initiatives, small group discussions, and an extensive canoe orientation. Students are separated onto three teams of 6-7 that include 8-10 adults and a facilitator. On the trip each team goes hiking and canoeing and is given a chance to share their experience in small group discussions throughout the weekend. The goal of the Teen Trekkers program is to provide a shared wilderness experience for students and community adults as a way to lay the foundation for on-going relationships to occur throughout the rest of their high school years.
VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

DONNIE ISIKOFF MEMORIAL TREK - FORMERLY "TREKKERS WILD"

The Donnie Isikoff Memorial Trek is an annual backpacking or canoe expedition in the Maine wilderness. 10-15 students or alumni are eligible to participate. This program is named in remembrance of Don Isikoff, one of Trekkers' first and most dedicated adult mentors. Don was a community-minded man, who came to love Trekkers after moving to midcoast Maine. He believed in the work that our organization does with local youth, and made it a point to participate in a Trekkers program each year. Through his involvement in the expeditions, Don shared his passion for the great outdoors with the young adults who participated in the program. He was a wonderful role model who clearly loved Maine rivers, canoes, back-country camping, and working with small groups.

Don Isikoff passed away in August 2009. A special memorial fund was created by his family in the summer of 2011 as a way of honoring Don’s memory. This memorial fund will help Trekkers provide a Maine wilderness experience to future students and alumni.

The Donnie Isikoff Memorial Trek  is held in late August. Students begin the program by participating in an outdoor training that is designed to develop the leadership, communication and decision-making skills required in the wilderness. During the expedition, students are responsible for navigation, food preparation and group discussions with guidance from Trekkers’ adult mentors. The overall goal of the program is to offer students the opportunity to gain greater confidence in their abilities as individuals while balancing their behavior and responsibility to others.

ADULT TREKKERS

Our mission has always been solely focused on the young people of our community.  However, in the fall of 2005, we expanded our services and offered an expedition to the parents of students involved in the program.  The goal of the Adult Trekkers program is to provide a chance for parents to experience the same type of life altering opportunities as their children.  In so doing, new relationships are formed with others, themselves and the natural world.  We believe these new relationships will ultimately lead to better parenting and healthier young people. 

For more information on when the next Adult Expedition is scheduled, please contact the Trekkers office at 207-594-5095. 

LEADERSHIP WEEKENDS

What does it mean to be a leader? This question is at the core of Trekkers’ Leadership Training Program for students in the 11^th and 12^th grade. This program provides students with the opportunity to learn, reflect and discuss what it means to be a Trekkers, community and global leader through a three-day overnight leadership retreat. After participating in the leadership retreat, students are then eligible to put that knowledge to use by participating as a student leader on the 7^th, 8^th and/or 9^th grade expeditions. VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

FROM THE HOOD TO THE WOODS

Trekkers offers one trip a year where students from our sister organization (Urban Trekkers located in Camden, New Jersey) come to Maine for a cultural awareness expedition.  Students participate in activities that promote diversity acceptance and awareness.  Students also go canoeing, kayaking, hiking, and so much more.  Trekkers offers this program to our high school Trekkers.  VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

TREKS ADVENTURE CLUB

T.R.E.K.s (Teens Reclaiming Experiential Knowledge) offers 9th-12th graders the opportunity to join Trekkers staff and volunteers on various adventures throughout Maine and New England.  All students are welcome, and once they become a member are invited on monthly adventures intended to motivate and encourage students to challenge themselves, form new relationships, and be inspired while enjoying kayaking, hiking, skiing, bicycling, and much more.  VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

PHOTO TREKS

Photo Treks offers an expedition for 8th graders that combines the outdoors and the art of photography.  After deciding their itinerary, the students and a professional photographer embark on a 5-day 4-night journey together to a unique landscape in Maine; past programs have focused on the working waterfronts of Midcoast Maine and the woods and native culture of the Grand Lakes Stream Region of Downeast Maine.  Students have then traveled to either Maine Media Workshops  or Unity College where they learn to process their photographs and critique their peers' work.  As the culminating experience, the students present their photographs to the community through a print or digital exhibition.  The purpose of the program is to provide an opportunity for students to learn how to document their experiences and landscapes via digital photography with support from local artists and mentors. 
VIEW EXPEDITIONS >>

APPRENTICE TREKS

Trekkers and The Apprenticeshop, a school for traditional boat building and seamanship, have teamed up to offer students and mentors a hands-on experience in boat building. Students meet during April vacation to learn traditional boat building skills, utilizing the knowledge and experience of professional boat builders in our community at the Apprenticeshop. The program concludes with a celebratory launching of student and mentor-built boats.

ONE TO ONE

Trekkers’ One to One program provides a more traditional form of mentoring by matching a caring adult to a young person who can benefit by having some extra support in their life. The activities, commitment level and meeting frequency fluctuate depending on the needs and interests of the student and the mentor alike. Trekkers recognizes that some students may only need adult support during a crisis and that others can greatly benefit from having a caring adult spend time with them for months and, possibly, years.

BIG TREK/LITTLE TREK

Big Trek/Little Trek is a peer mentoring program that matches high school students to younger students. Once a week, the Big Treks meet with their Little Treks after school to provide encouragement and friendship. In return, Big Treks get a chance to develop leadership skills, a sense of service to their community and the organization that has been serving them for the past few years. Before being matched, mentors participate in Trekkers’ Peer Mentor Training. Both Trekkers staff and school staff monitor weekly mentoring sessions.

QUEST TREKS

A series of monthly meetings, Quest Treks brings together same-gendered students and mentors to share a meal and have discussions relevant to the students' lives. Created in 2003, the program enables  participants to deepen the connections among them and ultimately instill a feeling of belonging. During the meetings, students and mentors eat dinner, play favorite games and partake in group discussions. Conversation topics vary, but they often include gender-specific issues, coping skills and youth aspirations.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM

What does it mean to be a leader? This question is at the core of Trekkers’ Leadership Training Program for students in the 11^th and 12^th grade. This program provides students with the opportunity to learn, reflect and discuss what it means to be a Trekkers, community and global leader through a three-day overnight leadership retreat. After participating in the leadership retreat, students are then eligible to put that knowledge to use by participating as a student leader on the 7^th, 8^th and/or 9^th grade expeditions.