40 Years in Youth Leadership Development
For over 40 years, Deer Hill has been creating opportunities for youth to authentically connect to self and others through wilderness and reciprocal service learning experiences. Our team is passionate about providing transformative experiences that elicit curiosity, insight, and inspiration in our students. Prioritizing the holistic development of young people is vital to a healthy society. At Deer Hill, we observe time and again that nature, diverse cultural contexts, and healthy challenge support and enhance youth development.
We Focus On Cultivating a Deeper Sense of Self
At Deer Hill, we know that Nature, connection, and reciprocal service learning are profound, powerful, and proven teachers. Experiential learning and age-appropriate challenge build self-esteem, compassion, and depth of character. Students develop a greater sense of self, building upon and deepening their relationships with peers, families, and the larger world. They begin determining who they are, who they want to be, and how they want to live.
Our programs provide today’s youth with a much-needed path to self-discovery, socio-emotional intelligence, and resilience. These are essential to maturing into a self-aware and empowered young adult.
We Focus On Building Relationships With the Real World
Our lived experience and the latest science tell us that youth development is accomplished in real, in-person (embodied), experiential settings. There are no greater teachers than wild spaces, diverse cultures, and collaborative effort in the face of real-life challenges.
Smartphones and other technology often act as “experience blockers”, providing ample (and empty) distraction with no meaningful engagement with real places, real people, or real experiences. Which means there’s no real learning, growing, or discovery taking place. What a sad way to spend the summer!
A Deer Hill program provides a compelling counterpoint to this issue. Rather than be immersed in worlds of coded non-reality, we immerse our students in situations that support clarity, presence, and engagement. Instead, we find ourselves paddling rivers, hiking in pristine mountain meadows, and engaging with Indigenous families. We disconnect from cyberspace to connect with what’s actually real. What a positive and life-affirming way to spend the summer!
Deer Hill … Its History and Its Future
A Note from the Founders
Beverly and I left our teaching positions in 1983 because we had a dream. We wanted to do something that would honor and enrich the lives of young people in a deep and soulful way. We didn’t spend much time thinking about what everyone else was doing. We knew what mattered. Authentic Connection to Self and Community.
So, in 1985, Beverly and I took a handful of former students and friends camping for three weeks, and it worked. We then invested in a beautiful property in Southwest Colorado and made our home and Basecamp there. Our three children grew up in the wildlands of the Colorado Plateau in the company of staff and students from all over the world.
The mission of Deer Hill has always been to empower the individual to connect with the beauty, courage, strength, and unique voice that lies within each of us. Beverly and I believe that living and working together in a group on wilderness expeditions and service projects in Native American communities are powerful ways to engage people in that lasting discovery.
Over the years, the “Deer Hill Circle” has grown to include alumni/ae, families, neighbors, teachers, and the staff, both in the office and in the field, who are passionate about making such experiences possible. We have seen lives change before our eyes and we know that the dream has come true.
Over the years, much has changed at Deer Hill, but not the mission nor the core values which we believe are more relevant than ever. In 1998, we launched the Deer Hill Foundation (501c3) to sponsor student scholarships and Native Service. In addition to our signature summer offerings, we run programs for schools, families, and organizations from March through November.
In January of 2025, Deer Hill Expeditions and the Deer Hill Foundation coalesced into a single nonprofit entity. This was a full ‘circle’ moment for all of us the in community; fully realizing our mission to provide excellent outdoor programming and meaning service learning/cultural exchange for students from all walks of life. Beverly and I are now “Deer Hill elders”, and landscapers and gardeners … literally!
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