Any youth who lives in Alaska that meets a trip’s specific requirements. All trips have a specified age range, and some trips have location-based requirements (ie. must reside within a certain school district or geographic region within Alaska).

Unless otherwise stated, our programs are only available to teens living in Alaska. An exception can be made for students who live out of state and qualify for the “local hire” appointing authority established under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA) (Public Law 96-487). The ANILCA local hiring authority allows eligible applicants to substitute an intimate understanding of the local area’s environmental challenges and cultural background for job-related work experience.

Any student living out of state with an “intimate understanding of the environmental challenges and cultural background” of Alaska qualifies for our programs. If you are an Alaska Native teen living out of state, or if you have questions about this exception, please contact us directly at education@akgeo.org

Click here for National Park Service Local Hire Authority Information
Click here for U.S. Forest Service Local Hire Authority Information

All participants must be nominated by an adult community member and have a completed student application. Links for these can be found at https://www.akgeo.org/youth-programs/youth-expeditions/

Once the nominator application and student application are submitted, the application process is complete.

Any community member in a mentorship role over the age of 18. Immediate family members, including parents, and friends of students over 18 may not nominate prospective participants. If you are a student interested in a trip and do not know who to ask for a nomination, please contact our Education team (email below) for further support.

Applications and nominations open in February of each year.

On your application, you will be asked for your first and second choice trip. You can also list any other trips you would like to be considered for. We only accept each student on one trip a summer, however all students applications can be reconsidered for an additional trip if openings become available throughout the summer.

Our expeditions and trips are run in partnership with public land agencies, like the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service. We work together with our partners to establish the structure and schedule for each trip individually. Most trips will incorporate conservation projects with our partners in the morning, then after lunch the group will go out on their exploration with their AK Geo guide for the afternoon. After dinner, there will be an evening program. Unless otherwise stated, our trips are camping based.

Please see each trip for their specific physical requirements. All participants must be in good health and be able to self-regulate emotions in moderate terrain through the rain, sun, wind, mosquitos, hot, and cold.