-: My name is Christine Tomlinson
and I am from a nonprofit called Wilderness Inquiry
as a youth programs manager.
Wilderness Inquiry is a nonprofit
that focuses on making the outdoors
accessible for everyone and anyone.
So we were founded 40 years ago,
a little over 40 years ago.
Making the boundary waters particularly inclusive
for people with,
people using wheelchairs, women,
and people deaf and hard of hearing,
and our organization really has grown from there.
I, like everyone at nonprofits,
do a lot of different things,
but I guess what I try to focus on is
making that first contact with teachers
who might be interested in Canoe Mobile,
or just interested in having a fun,
different experience for their students.
So I'll talk to teachers
and district administratives,
as well as folks from, you know,
the DNR or National Parks Service
to just explain what Wilderness Inquiry does,
and then, you know,
talk a little bit more about Canoe Mobile
and how that might work for them,
and then go through that, you know,
step-by-step process.
How many kids are you, do you wanna bring?
What activities do you wanna do?
Do you have any particular goals,
and those things.
So our outdoor leaders will get to a location
and this, you know,
they'll come a little bit early
before the students get there.
They'll make sure everything is set up.
So we have to unload our six Voyager canoes that,
you know, take six people to get off our big trailer
and set those up.
We'll set up all of our safety gear,
our life jackets, paddles, all of that,
clean up the park if it needs to be,
and then make sure our educational stations
are set up, as well.
And once kind of all of those logistics are in place,
the team will get together,
make sure everybody knows what they're doing,
roles are assigned and all of those pieces,
and then we wait for the students.
So really, I mean,
the ultimate goal is that they had
a positive experience on this new waterway,
as well as a positive experience with
these adults that are taking them on this waterway.
So I think that's our main goal
is to make sure that they're having a good time
and experiencing it in a positive way.