Explore Austin's mission is to empower youth through leadership, mentoring, and outdoor adventure. Explore Austin accepts 6th-grade youth and makes a six-year commitment to helping them develop the skills, tools, and habits they will need to become effective leaders. Through a combination of mentoring and outdoor adventure, Explore Austin has created a curriculum around its ACES framework (an acronym for Action-Oriented, Courageous, Excellent Teammate, and Strong Communicator), as well as the Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets. Our curriculum is built upon the idea that by taking its committed Explorers, placing them in a unique environment, and giving them problem-solving tasks and challenges, Explorers will develop the character traits necessary to be effective leaders. To learn more about becoming involved in Explore Austin, please visit exploreaustin.org. We hope you will join us in the adventure and look forward to hearing from you!