Blog Masonry - Youth Frontiers

September 6, 2018

10 Things Youth Frontiers Has Taught Me about Community

Fall, for me, has always signaled change. When I was a kid, fall meant a new school year, which led to all sorts of other new’s: new school, new classes, new friends, new perspective — new. As an adult, I know life isn’t always contained within such concrete cycles. Even so, fall, upon its invigorating winds, still always manages to bring change.

This autumn at Youth Frontiers is no exception. As an organization, we’ve moved into our new headquarters, we’re innovating new programming, we’re welcoming new staff, while saying goodbye to some old friends — and all of that change has put my work life into perspective. For me, it has reinforced the importance of a positive, resilient community.READ MORE

May 31, 2018

It’s about all of us

At Youth Frontiers, we unabashedly challenge kids to make our world better. And every day, we get to witness students stand up and lead with character — students like Maple Grove seventh grader, Eve Miller.

Eve wanted to bring four Courage Retreats to her school because her class has been grappling with bullying. She worked hard to raise the funds by reaching out to family, friends and community members.READ MORE

May 24, 2018

The teenage brain: how dopamine spurs risk taking

I can still remember the kitchen conversation as my brothers excitedly hatched the plan with their friends. “Yes! Let’s do it!” was the consensus as five teenage boys raced out the front door with their skateboards. Ten minutes later a neighbor was on the phone asking if my parents knew that there were teenagers, including their two sons, skate boarding down twenty fourth street tethered by rope to a car.

Later, as my parents grilled my brothers with, “What were you thinking?!” my brothers looked fairly disinterested in the lecture. Reminding them of the potential for broken bones or worse brought the familiar rolling of the eyes.READ MORE

Youth Frontiers' 2018 Character Award Winner, Destiny Kudelko

May 17, 2018

2018 Wisconsin Character Award Winner: Destiny Kudelko

Congratulations to Destiny Kudelko, a senior at Kewaskum High School in Wisconsin, for winning the 2018 Youth Frontiers Character Award! Last week, Youth Frontiers presented the award to Destiny at its third-annual Ethical Leadership Luncheon in the company of hundreds of the area’s top corporate, nonprofit, education and civic leaders. To further recognize her accomplishments, Scott and Linda Haag awarded Destiny a $2,500 college scholarship. Learn more about Destiny by watching her video and reading the story below.

The Y Corps: Genevieve, Kevin, Maggie, Dahlia and Traiveon

May 10, 2018

YCorps Spotlight: Traiveon Dunlap

We are so grateful for our wonderful staff at Youth Frontiers (YF), from our full-time and part-time employees to our YCorps. The Youth Frontiers YCorps (Youth Corps) is a seven-month internship program that gives emerging leaders the opportunity to facilitate, along with our full-time staff, life-changing retreats for schools all over the upper Midwest. The YCorps do a lot to further our mission, so we want to celebrate their skills and stories on our blog in a five-part spotlight Q&A series. Our final YCorps member in the spotlight is Traiveon Dunlap. READ MORE

May 3, 2018

A new brand for the next phase of Youth Frontiers

If you are reading this blog post, you’ve probably noticed that something about our website looks different … We’ve rebranded! We’re really excited about it and wanted to give you some context for this change.

Our brand is our identity. It communicates who we are, what we do and why we do it. The heart of who we are has not changed, but what we do — and what we still aspire to do — has evolved. We’re developing new programming — for educators, for student leaders, for the broader community — to help realize our mission. Our new brand infrastructure helps reaffirm our identity and supports our continued innovation.READ MORE