Stories from the Field

On a bus parked inside Yosemite National Park, Chemnui sat with her classmates as two Secret Service agents in black suits and sunglasses explained the rules: no hats, no hoods; exit the bus in an orderly fashion.

The students, teacher and chaperones filed out. The group had traveled to Yosemite to take part in NatureBridge’s environmental science program. Now, they murmured to each other with excitement as the Secret Service began their briefing.

“That’s when I got nervous,” says Chemnui, who was a fourth grade student at a nearby public school in San Francisco.

“When they said ‘you’re going to meet the Obamas.’”

As the Armstrong Scholars program looks ahead to the next 50 years, one thing is for certain: the spirit of Joie is being actively kept alive. It is woven into the curriculum and through 20+ years of backcountry experiences. The scholars and the leaders and Leslie evoke Joie in ways big and small, inside and outside of the two-week journey.

Jenn Peach led the 2017 Armstrong Scholars program alongside Daniella Beinstock. When the 13-day excursion began, the high school-age women saw Jenn as mature, but little else beyond that — she was there to lead and instruct. After Jenn and Daniella held the open conversation period around the campfire, the dynamics of the entire group changed. One of the memorable questions they fielded around that campfire in the dark: “How do you have the courage to go do things by yourself?”

“At some point I said that I was the person who gave me permission to do things, and it sparked this fascinating conversation about the ‘permission’ to be certain things as a young woman. It opened everyone’s eyes to each other.”