Describe the Issue or Situation.

During the Pandemic, National and State Parks such as the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, Daniel Boone National Forest, Red River Gorge all experienced record numbers of visitors at their parks which led to a major increase in Search and Rescue calls due to lost or injured visitors.  The demand put tremendous pressure an agencies responsible for visitor safety, to the point that they requested individuals not prepared or unfamiliar with the area stay home.  

Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable).

This led to the original creation of an adult survival program, which evolved into a 1-day teen survival camp and today is a 3-day teen survival camp.  Participants learn many skills ranging from leadership, patience and staying calm in stressful situation to more tangible skills like wilderness first aid, fire and shelter building, and how to find and create potable water.  Day one consists of hands-on situations of basic first aid they might encounter in a survival situation and learn how to orient themselves on a map and get to participate in an orienteering competition.  Day 2 teaches participants different ways to get fire started in a survival situation based on weather conditions and packed equipment and then followed-up with some delicious and nutritious outdoor cooking skills.  Day 3 discussing knots, building shelter, helpful equipment to pack and how to create potable water.  Day 3 finished on the "backpack" challenge where participants are required to team-up and live out a survival scenario in the woods where they much create fire, make potable water, practice hypothetical injuries on teammates, build shelter and ration food.

Provide the Number and Description(s) of Participants/Target Audience.

Participants range in age from 13-17.  25 Participants are accepted into the program on a first come first serve basis.  There is a waiting list limit of 10 youth.

Provide a Statement of Outcomes or Program Impact. Please note that the outcomes statement must use evaluation data to describe the change(s) that occurred in individuals, groups, families, businesses, or in the community because of the program/outreach.

Out of the 25 participants 7 were individuals who had attended the program the previous 1 (sometimes 2) years.  Several of these repeat individuals had purchased and brought survival items with them to practice with during the class and shared stories about how they had utilize them over the last year.  Although none of them needed to utilize the skills in a survival scenario, they practice in their back yard or during camping trips.

Starting fires during wet conditions seemed to be the most difficult task for participants to overcome.  Working with their team to accomplish tasks and sharing the workload was the second most difficult portion of their challenge.

All participants enjoyed the program.  Many felt they would practice at least one of the skills learn in the future and a few expressed interest in returning in 2025.

The 3-day Teen Survival Camp has also led to FFA officer day-camps to create teamwork and leadership skills for FFA organizations in Boone and Kenton County.