Sierra Club Scholarships

The Sierra Club is offering ten scholarships of $1,000 per year for four years to graduates of the class of 2003 who plan to enter a four-year college program.

The scholarships will be available to all students who live in communities of no more than 10,000 population and reservations in the Sierra Nevada, including students who commute to high schools in the Central Valley. We particularly encourage persons of Native American descent to apply.

Applications are now being taken for the scholarships. They should be postmarked no later that March 1, 2003. Recipients of the scholarships will be notified after April 1.

Most WildLink alumni qualify for this scholarship. Application is simple. For more details, go to www.sierraclub.org/
field/ca_nv_hi/snscholarship.asp

Where Are
They Now?

When you're perusing the journal entries of all of our many WildLink alumni, do you ever wonder where they are now?

I'd like to extend an invitation and an encouragement to all those alumni out there, students and interns alike, to write us at WildLink and give us an update on what you're doing. We'd especially like to hear about any wilderness, travel or just generally grand adventures you might have had recently. If you'd like to submit some written thoughts on wildrness, I'll try to post some of those as well. If response is plentiful enough, I'd like to make this a regular feature in the news.

You can send ideas and writings to me at P.O. Box 577, Yosemite, CA 95389, or by e-mail at mandy_vance@partner.nps.gov.

Happy writing and I hope to hear from you soon!

Mandy

Expedition III

Yosemite wasn't shy about the snowy whims of winter with Expedition III, but but co-instructor Chris and ten students (four returning from last year) from LeGrande High School rose to the occasion. I'd like to send out a special recognition to this group to thank them for the way that they handled deep snow, ungainly snowshoes and cold nights with style and laughter! We were definitely repaid for our challenges with a beautiful January wonderland!

Our trek took us first to the magical Merced Grove, where we revelled in the grandeur of Giant Sequoias and enjoyed the warmth of the wood stove of the historical Merced Grove Cabin.

Our travels carried us through bright sun, deep snow, and six miles of Nature showing off one of her best sides...winter! We encountered no other human tracks but countless numbers of animal tracks. We even discovered the site of a recently eaten coyote...complete with skull, and intact teeth! I've never found remains of the wily coyote, so that was quite a treat!

Our final night was spent to the icicle-accented music of Little Nellie Falls, where we spent our last night together before hiking out for our pickup in Foresta. Well done, Expedition III!

To view journals and stories from Expedition III, click here.

Welcome from WildLink!

I'd like to extend a very special WildLink welcome to a new student group who'll be joining us this year from the Gear Up program in Parlier and Reedley High Schools! Six students from this group will join our longtime WildLink group from Franklin High School. I'll be visiting with all of the students in the Gear Up program this month, so I look foward to meeting all of you. And if you're already interested in joining us, tell your Gear Up leaders now!