At CIRES, more than 950 environmental science professionals work to understand the dynamic Earth system, including people’s relationship with the planet. CIRES has partnered with NOAA since 1967, and our areas of expertise include weather and climate, changes at Earth’s poles, air quality and atmospheric chemistry, water resources, solid Earth sciences, and more. Our vision is to be instrumental in ensuring a sustainable future environment by advancing scientific and societal understanding of the Earth system.

https://cires.colorado.edu/

Girls* on Rock is a unique, FREE, wilderness science education program for high school girls. Each summer a team of up to nine teenage girls and three instructors spend 12 days exploring and learning about the alpine landscapes of the Rocky Mountains through art, rock climbing, and conducting scientific field studies with our team of professional glaciologists, ecologists, mountain guides, and artists. https://cires.colorado.edu/outreach/programs/girls-rock

Inspiring Girls* Expeditions (IGE) is an organization that provides a tuition-free wilderness expedition to high school girls to explore science, art, leadership, and personal development. Inspiring Girls* Expeditions has several branches that offer a variety of different expeditions all over the world. Girls*on Rock is a branch of Inspiring Girls Expeditions that is based in Boulder, Colorado. Girls*on Rock offers a rock climbing and backcountry experience that highlights the instructors' scientific expertise to allow the participants to engage in their own scientific research projects. We want to clarify that Inspiring Girls*Expeditions welcomes cis girls, trans girls, and any girl-identified youth, as well as non-binary and gender non-conforming youth. https://www.inspiringgirls.org/gor

Instructor teams are typically made up of two science and art instructors, and one mountain guide. Instructor teams are responsible for planning and leading the expedition, as well as completing post-expedition clean-up, with support and training from the program leadership and coordination team.. The bulk of the instructor’s duties take place during the summer contract; however, some spring planning is required. Descriptions of the instructor’s responsibilities are outlined below:

• Meet bi-weekly for 1.5 hours between April and July with co-instructors, and the Program Coordinator, to be trained in the program curriculum and prepare for the expedition logistics, including:
• Fine-tuning expedition itinerary and menu.
• Understanding the participant learning objectives.
• Determining how each instructor’s unique expertise can best be suited to delivering and augmenting the curriculum and advising inquiry projects.
• Reviewing participant enrollment paperwork (application, health history, gear requests, travel information, etc).
• Participate in instructor training (format TBD).
• Arrive at the expedition launch site at least one full day before the start of the expedition to pack food and gear, finalize logistics, and prepare for participant arrival.
• Instruct one 12-day expedition (8 days in the backcountry, 4 days in the front country).
• We acknowledge that while we estimate expedition days as 10-hour days, this does not capture the reality that instructors are on-duty 24/7 while in the backcountry.
• Remain at the expedition’s end site for at least one full day following the expedition to complete the following:
• Clean, organize, inventory, and store equipment for the next expedition or season.
• Debrief expedition with the instructor team, program coordinator, and program director.
• Complete remaining paperwork (incident reports, etc).

• Effectively work with colleagues and participants of different identities and backgrounds, celebrate diversity, and demonstrate cultural humility.
• Live, work, and maintain a positive team attitude in an outdoor environment for two weeks, including in adverse weather conditions.
• Participate in moderate to vigorous physical activity; able to lift and carry at least 50 pounds over awkward terrain.
• Possess sufficient technical skills to travel safely (unguided, with friends or colleagues of equal or lesser technical skill) via the expedition’s mode of travel (i.e., mountaineering, rock climbing, sea kayaking, or packrafting).
• Demonstrate effective communication, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills.