Youth Leadership Program
Enrollment for Fall 2025 Session begins in August - Dates Coming soon
High School Mentors
Lottery Drawing: August Mentor Training*: three days Meets twice-a-week: for 14 weeks beginning in August
+ meets after-school until 6:30pm + transportation provided from school
*mentor training is mandatory
middle School Mentees
Lottery Drawing: August Meets twice-a-week: for 14 weeks beginning in August
+ meets after-school until 6:30pm + transportation provided from school
Learn. Strive. Lead.
Leaders aren’t born; they develop, and at Cypress Adventures, we’re committed to developing more!
Our Youth Leadership Program combines experiential education with adventure-based programming to teach middle and high school students essential life and leadership competencies. We equip them with communication, team-building, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills they can apply to school-life, home-life, and work-life, today and every day.
The 14-week afterschool course is free to Darlington County middle and high school students. The program provides opportunities for youth to connect with others, strengthen resilience, discover civic engagement, and take part in challenging outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and canoeing.
Classes are available for high school course credit in both the fall and spring semesters, meeting twice weekly, after school, until 6:30 p.m. Transportation is provided. In addition to stirring the passions of participants, we train our high school students to serve as peer mentors for our middle school students throughout each course.
Our model effectively engages all learning styles, and our programs foster confidence, develop character, and illuminate the natural strengths of every participant.
About the Free, After-School
Youth Leadership Program
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Peer Mentoring
High school students earn school elective course credit and are trained to serve as mentors for middle schools students in every aspect of this free, after-school program.
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Outdoor Adventure
The Youth Leadership Program includes one day hiking trip and one overnight camping trip, introducing youth to lifelong stress management tools.
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Social & Emotional Learning
What looks like fun and games on the outside, is actually developing the foundational skill sets that strengthen self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and decision making.