When you leave familiar ground and step off alone to a new place, there will be, along with feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the unknown, and it is your bond with the wilderness you are going into. What you are doing is exploring. You are understanding the first experience, not of the place, but of yourself in that place. It is the experience of our essential loneliness, for nobody can discover the world for anybody else. It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves that it becomes common ground, and a common bond, and we cease to be alone.

–Wendell Berry

Exploration of nature and what the world has to offer is key to self-exploration and becoming a more well-rounded and balanced person. Our adventure program provides students with the opportunity to develop confidence in themselves to experience and do things they may never have tried otherwise.

Dragonfly trips combine community service, relaxation, exploration, and adventure. These trips bring the community closer together while expanding the life experiences of students.

At Dragonfly, students take weekend day trips
 to try new things. On breaks from school, mentors coordinate travel to nearby destinations. These trips can be cultural excursions to places like San Francisco or to natural wonders like the Cascade Mountains. Students also have opportunities for international travel and exploratory learning where many have picked up new hobbies like snowboarding, skiing, dancing and mountain biking.

• New Year’s trip to Bend and Mt. Bachelor for snowboarding/skiing
• Cultural excursion to Portland or San Francisco
• Rafting the wild and scenic Rogue River
• Cambodia
• Crater Lake or Mt. Shasta
• Zion National Park
• Redwoods on the Oregon Coast