Fire Keepers
Are you between the ages of 13-17?
Do you have a passion for the outdoors?
Do you enjoy helping younger kids?
Our unique Fire Keeper program might be for you!
Program Overview
The White Pine Fire Keeper program is a one-of-a-kind opportunity in Indianapolis. It allows for teens to work alongside our instructors as helpers and mentors to the class. Responsibilities are customized to the Fire Keeper’s interest and include leadership roles in mentoring youth, facilitating guilds, leading stories and circles as well as clean up chores.
Why Teens as Teachers?
When teens teach younger kids while caring adults help to guide, something magical happens.
Both the teens and the kids show positive results including acceptance and respect for diversity, increased academic achievement, development of collaboration/conflict resolution skills, a reduction in drug and alcohol abuse among participating teens, and increased empathy for teachers (https://archives.joe.org/joe/2001february/rb1.php).
But that’s not all! Our successful Fire Keeper program is led by our passionate, committed, highly-trained instructors, providing a backbone for all involved. This helps for learning social and emotional skills, time for group processing after every class, and positive interdependence where teens and younger youth learn together and depend on one another. Our Fire Keeper program has also proven to be a positive teen peer support network where deep friendships have formed over years’ time.
So who benefits from our Fire Keeper program?
- The Community. It helps create an ethos of cooperation, caring, and mutual respect
- The Kids. They learn and grow, watching positive role models
- The Teens. They are challenged, are successful, and contribute positively and significantly to their communities
How to get involved
Participants must be between 13-17 years old have a passion for the outdoors and for helping kids.
The Fire Keeper Program is free and centered around monthly Councils, with occasional expeditions and overnights. Here, Fire Keepers are trained as assistant wilderness skills mentors.
When Fire Keepers demonstrate commitment and competency in the program, they will be offered shifts to mentor kids during forest school, after school or summer camp. At this time, White Pine has approximately 4 forest school shifts per weekday, 2 after-school shifts per weekday, and 4 summer camp shifts per week that are available to Fire Keepers who are ready to mentor.
The Fire Keeper program can be a 1 to 5 year program for committed teens who often graduate into employment positions as Lead Instructor shifts become available. This is an amazing leadership quest that isn’t available at any other nature/forest school in Indianapolis!
Please contact academy@whitepinewilderness.org for any additional questions.