Youth Programs and Summer Camps

Youth Programs and Summer Camps includes summer camps where participants practice wilderness survival, wildlife tracking, and a nature-based curriculum. Over the course of their week at camp, groups called “clans” work together on activities such as patiently waiting to approach wildlife and working together to build a group shelter. The program includes topics like Hazards and Wilderness Basics, Wildlife Tracking and Mammals, Edible, Medicinal, and Poisonous Plant Identification, Ecology and Natural Communities, Survival and Trees, and Birds and Bird Language, and uses Coyote Mentoring techniques that blend modern and ancient ways of connecting with nature.

• Ages: 5–18 years old
• Schedule: Over the course of their week at camp

Wilderness Awareness School, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1983 by the late Ingwe (Norman Powell) and Jon Young, runs Youth Programs and Summer Camps and other wilderness education courses that emphasize nature as a teacher. The organization’s educational philosophy, Coyote Mentoring, is codified in the Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature and uses storytelling and the art of questioning to teach routines to enhance awareness. The program uses small student-to-teacher ratios, with groups called “clans” averaging 9 to 10 students per paid staff member and supported by additional volunteers, and offers personalized curriculum to match the skill level of each group of students.

The Wilderness Awareness School hires only experienced, uniquely trained adults grounded in wilderness and community-building skills, and many lead Summer Camp staff members are graduates of the intensive year-long Immersion program or the Nature Instructor Training program. Every summer Camp Director and all instructors are CPR and Wilderness First Aid certified, all camp directors were previously camp instructors at the school, and each new and returning employee participates in pre-camp training sessions that cover safety protocols and policies. The program has an emergency and medical response plan specific to each location, requires criminal background checks for all staff and volunteers, requires sexual offender background checks for all staff, and requests and checks both personal and professional references for all staff.

Wilderness Awareness School states that its programs do not accommodate all physical, emotional, or cognitive needs at this time and has a Diversity and Equity Statement along with equity, diversity, and inclusion practices. The organization offers additional adult programs such as Adult Weekend & Weeklong Programs, The Immersion at Wilderness Awareness School, Nature Instructor Training, and naturalist, survival, and ancestral skills classes in both self-study and physical class formats, along with training for educators interested in mastering Coyote Mentoring, forums, classes and facilitated gatherings, free ecourses, and online video courses. Wilderness Awareness School is internationally recognized for its mentoring teaching style, its naturalist training expertise, and its focus on connecting students with nature, their community, and themselves, and is recognized as one of the primary inspirations for the contemporary nature connection movement. Parent Map has consistently recognized Wilderness Awareness School as the region’s Best Nature Camp, and the Summer Camp program has received Parent Map’s best outdoor camp award nine years in a row. The organization continues to serve its community in the Puget Sound, across the United States, and around the world by providing engaging educational opportunities, transformational experiences, skills classes, training for educators, and a community gathering place for people who share a passion for connecting with nature.

Last updated February 28, 2026.