So when Estevan Galicia Jr. and Michael Chavez planned a college road program for PEAK’s Leaders in Training cohort, they didn’t want to spend a week touring different versions of the same school. They wanted young people to see just how many versions of “college” were actually out there.
Together, we worked with them to build a five-day loop from Milwaukee through Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The group visited a huge public university at Ohio State and the tiny Antioch, an experiential 100-person school focused on self-designed study. They toured two neighboring HBCUs at Central State and Wilberforce, explored Louisville’s OYES program, and finished at DePauw. Along the way, they stopped at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, made time to cook, slept in camps and bunkhouses across the midwest, and circled up each evening to talk about what they’d seen.
PEAK built the experience. We helped make the moving parts manageable. While Estevan and Michael focused on their young people, Get Outside Bus helped with routing, meals, lodging, transportation, and all the little logistical pieces that can turn a great idea into a very complicated week.
By the time the bus pointed north toward Milwaukee again, “college” wasn’t one abstract thing anymore. Students had walked the campuses, met people there, compared very different schools, and started figuring out what felt right for them.
PEAK isn’t alone. Many community leaders come to us saying “let’s go to school,” visiting institutions across our route, giving students a chance to explore their futures and the outdoors at the same time.