McMeen Elementary

Weekly Nurse Message: Black History Month Kick-Off

02/01/23, 9:40 AM

Good Morning McMeen Families and Happy 1st day of Black History Month!

   As I was reflecting this morning on Black History, I recalled an amazing and inspiring article I read in 2022 about the first all-Black team to summit Mount Everest. The team, Full Circle Everest, summited the mountain on May 12th, 2022. The team's leader, Philip Henderson, was quoted saying "I just want to make sure that Black folks know that there's a place for them, for us, in mountaineering."  You can read more about this amazing and historical story here.

  Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) have historically been (and still are) marginalized in so many aspects of our culture, including activities in outdoor recreation such as hiking, camping, backpacking, skiing, mountain biking, mountain climbing, mountaineering, etc. Economic and social factors play a large part in the inequitable access to many of these activities. Many organizations have been created to break this gap in outdoor recreation access for people of color.

   Here in Colorado, we have our very of organization called Blackpackers. Blackpackers explains their mission statement as:

                               A 501(c)(3) Organization meeting those at the intersection of underrepresentation and economic vulnerability.

Our mission is two-fold:

1. To provide gear, outdoor excursions and outdoor education for free or at subsidized cost.

2. To connect participants with volunteer opportunities, internships, jobs, and post-secondary education resources to create a pipeline from outdoor recreation to outdoor industry

careers.

In these ways, we can create economic equity in outdoor recreation.

  Blackpackers hosts all sorts of activities throughout the year in Colorado. Visit their website for more information: https://blackpackers.org

Have a great, sunny day!

Nurse Miriam