Wayfinding College
Hibernation, the Winter World, and Opportunities this Spring
Thank you all so much for the warm reception to the rebirth of our newsletter, and welcome to those who have joined.
I’ve added two older newsletters which provided some reflection a year after APB’s first students arrived on campus and shared the results of our 6-month-post Alumni Survey. You can find links to those at the bottom.
Please share this letter with friends interested in community and learning.
This Week:
Wayfinding College decides to pause for rest and renewal
Links about hibernation and the winter world
Open positions in California and Colorado
Wayfinding College Rests
For the last few weeks, I’ve been spending a lot of time with the good people of Wayfinding College, a 2-year micro college in Portland, OR. Together, we’ve been reviewing WC’s HR Operations with an eye toward long-term organizational resilience.
I first met Michelle Jones, the founder, in October 2020 while I was at APB’s Bradshaw Mountains campus in Prescott, AZ. Later, WC helped accept donations on our behalf so that we could provide sponsorships to low-income and first-generation students.
Naturally, at that time and in that place, we met online. So in the Fall of 2021, I took advantage of a trip to visit my folks to meet Michelle in person and see WC’s beautiful home in the St. Johns neighborhood of NE Portland.
Over the last few months, WC began to seriously consider the benefits of pausing their campus operations, which run year-round for all students, to reflect and renew their mission, vision, and enthusiasm.
For many small non-profits, it’s easy to find yourself on a frenetic hamster wheel, when, in fact, at the expense of short-term goals, stepping back could provide more long-term resilience.
Maybe we’re not so different from wild mice who will choose to use running wheels in the forest.
In their words:
Things have changed a lot over the course of seven years - a global pandemic, escalating international violence, racial justice reckonings, climate challenges and intense cultural polarization. It’s a lot. It's a historic worldwide upheaval, and we know many people are exhausted and struggling to find solid footing.
In that spirit, we’ve decided to create a season of intentional rest and reflection, and we are putting our current two-year degree program on hold for the 2022-2023 academic year. We believe this will help us move into the following seven years with clarity, enthusiasm and joy.
Many Wayfinding programs will continue throughout this resting and reflecting time, including Far-a-Wayfinding (2 sessions), Lifefinding on Location (2 sessions), and Learn & Explore trips.
We know it’s a bit unusual for organizations to choose intentional rest like this, but we’re inspired by those who do, (who knows, maybe it will catch on even more in our culture?), and we’re excited about the creativity that happens when you step back and truly give yourself time to be present and fully absorb years of learning. We’re certainly not the first to think of the idea of a fallow year or the significance of a seven year cycle.
In internal conversations, this pause had been casually referred to as a hibernation; I’m looking forward to what blossoms in their spring.
Related Links
Winter World
I can’t think of the word Hibernation without thinking of Bernd Heinrich’s Winter World: the Ingenuity of Animal Survival. In his own amiable and curious style, Heinrich reveals the secret behaviors and strategies animals of all kinds use when wintering in situ.
In some ways, Winter World is a quick reminder of humans’ animal status: who hasn’t felt kinship with a Marmot while digging a snow shelter in the mountains? (Just me? cool, cool, cool) And in other ways, it shows just how different our strategies are from the myriad unique ways animals survive — like extreme alterations of their physiology (anti-freeze in insects) that make my winter baking-weight (i.e. the weight I gain the winter because of the baked goods I eat… it’s an adaptation… I swear…) look incredibly domestic.
Heinrich is two for two in my mind these last two weeks after I was reminded of him by this study that found Crows know what they know and can ponder the content of their own minds.
The stories of his childhood experiences raising ravens in The Mind of the Raven: Investigations & Adventures with Wolf Birds are perhaps one of the best ways to know that it’s possible to find your true calling in life.
Glorious Mystery
Heinrich is singular in revealing secret truths of the natural world, and his deep understanding and eloquence hints at how much we can already know.
And yet, even Heinrich’s own wintering black birds still contain many careers-worth of further study.
An evergreen example of our continued ignorance is, of course, the ocean. According to NOAA, only 35% of the world’s oceans have been mapped using modern methods. This is one of those meme stats that seems to change day-to-day, so thank you NOAA.
And even with those mapped zones and the well-studied species within, observers are no strangers to mystery. Like this novel report of over 50 Orca Whales hunting a juvenile Blue Whale with a level of sophistication rivaling a brutal ballet. Their coordination suggests that their tactics are not improvised and, instead, are well-understood among the members of the pod.
There’s always more to learn.
Open and Upcoming Roles
Seasonal: Wrangler
Sanborn Western Camps
Florissant, CO
I love the good folk at Sanborn Western Camps and the Colorado Outdoor Education Center. In January 2021, we ran APB’s Front Range semester at their High Trails camp.
In their words:
Sanborn Western Camps is located at elevation of 8600 ft in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado, 35 miles west of Colorado Springs. We give kids the opportunity to grow as young men and women while climbing 14ers, riding horses and living together in the outdoors.
This role is for full-time, seasonal work starting in mid-May until mid-August. Sanborn Wranglers pack pack-horses for trips of up to 5 days; teaching basic horsemanship skills on the ground and while mounted. Wranglers are members of the Senior Leadership Team.
Click here to read more about this role and others like it.
Part-Time: Faculty
California State University, Northridge, College of Health and Human Development
Northridge, CA
CSUN’s College of Health and Human Development’s mission is to promote health and health care and strengthen understanding of nutrition, physical activity and recreation and the roles they play in our lives. CSUN HHD aims to improve environments — from homes and workplaces to the water and air quality of our planet.
This position is for a Part-Time Faculty Lecturer in Recreation and Tourism Management; The role will be responsible for teaching courses such as: Introduction to Outdoor Education and the Backcountry; Rock Climbing and Mountaineering; and Recreation and the Natural Environment.
Click here to read more about this role.
Full-Time: Community Leadership Manager
GO Public Schools Oakland
Oakland, CA
GO Public Schools is a multi-city organization of local networks, working with families and their champions — educators, school leaders, community leaders, elected and appointed officials — to promote and advocate for equitable public education for under-served California communities.
They’re looking for a Policy & Community Advocacy Manager to be an integral part of the GO Oakland team. The role is charged with informing the team and community about policies impacting their campaigns. This leader will be a strong policy researcher and writer and highly skilled at engaging community members, with an eye toward explaining complex issues in easy-to-understand ways.
Click here to read more about this role.
✌️
Ciarán
PS: Despite all the talk about Winter, Spring has sprung here in Portland.
Enjoy this powerful Ukrainian folk ballad, Spring Song: