STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some kids in New York City have a chance to get out of town and into the wild. A summer program called the Timbuctoo Institute does the work, and the name of that institute is a clue to the human history of the mountains where the kids go. North Country Public Radio's Emily Russell reports.
EMILY RUSSELL, BYLINE: When Kaylah Washington first heard about the Timbuctoo Institute, she was far from sold. It's a two-week program. It brings students of color from New York City up to the remote Adirondack Mountains.
KAYLAH WASHINGTON: We're, like, six hours away from home with no Wi-Fi, no internet. We have to sleep in bunks, and we just go into nature every single day. I was like, I don't think I want to do this.
RUSSELL: Washington is 15 years old. She's from the Bronx and had never been north of the city. But some of her friends applied, so she did, too. The institute is hosted by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. It starts in the city, with lessons on climate science and environmental justice, and then heads north. Washington says she was shocked to learn about New York's 6-million-acre Adirondack wilderness.
KAYLAH: And I feel like it reflects the way that climate change and the environment is not spoken of enough, 'cause this place is so big. Now that I'm here, like, I'm like, wow, like, how come I never heard of this before?
RUSSELL: The Adirondacks are popular among vacationers and summer campers, but for many, the region is out of reach. The Timbuctoo Institute puts it within reach for about 50 students each summer. It's completely free. The students get about a $1,300 stipend at the end, and it mirrors another effort, one that dates back more than 150 years - an effort to expand access to the Adirondacks and to empower people of color.
UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: All right, let's make a nice - if we can form sort of a semicircle.
RUSSELL: Inside a barn in Lake Placid, the students are learning about abolitionist Gerrit Smith. He wanted to diversify the Adirondacks and give Black people the right to vote, so in the mid-1800s, he gave land away to free Black men. The settlement was known as Timbuctoo.
JOHN KING: Many young people don't know this part of New York's history.
RUSSELL: That's SUNY Chancellor John King.
INSKEEP: And it's really powerful to see students learning about how a multiracial coalition worked to combat the institution of slavery and to produce a more just society.
RUSSELL: But still, to this day, people of color face persisting inequalities. For example, Black and brown people more often live and work in places that experience the extreme heat and severe weather caused by climate change, so students here learn about the roles they can play in the future. They meet forest rangers, climate advocates, state lawmakers. Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Cabrera from the Bronx says that really opened her eyes up to what's possible.
ELIZABETH CABRERA: I never would have thought that I would be standing here thinking about, like, my future career, but it's like, now I'm thinking about maybe I'll be a marine biologist, 'cause knowing the animals around me, like, wow - like, I'm going to help them.
RUSSELL: A week ago, this wild place was out of reach, but being here, seeing themselves here, the students say that's changed their perspectives. They've paddled the Hudson River, hiked an Adirondack Mountain. Kaylah Washington, who we met in the beginning, says the hike was one of the hardest things she's ever done.
KAYLAH: It was so painful, but it was all worth it. Like, when I seen the view, I just seen millions and millions of trees. Like, it feels like a dream, honestly. This, like, whole place was like a dream to me.
RUSSELL: Washington says she's already told her friends about Timbuctoo. Meanwhile, more than half of the seniors from last year's institute have applied to study at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.
For NPR News, I'm Emily Russell, in Lake Placid, N.Y.
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