STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Far + Wise is having a summer like no other.

The nonprofit that supports students from first grade to first job will serve nearly 200 kids this summer via academic enrichment, life enrichment and career exploration programs.

That’s up from about 150 kids last year. But the growth is not just in numbers—it reflects an uptick in ambition, as well.

"Our summer program is exploding this year," said Sam Herrick, executive director of Far + Wise.

The biggest leap is in paid internships. Last summer, Far + Wise placed three interns. This summer, 12 students will work in internships ranging from construction to mountain operations at Sun Valley Resort to childcare — that’s a 400 percent increase over last year.

And Herrick calls it a game-changer.

"There's a difference between a job and an internship," Herrick said. "An internship is a very deliberate learning progression. It's structured in a way that there's feedback, formal and informal, from the mentor within that organization."

Interns working for Sun Valley Resort will be checking lift lines, inspecting the chairs on chairlifts and testing cables in mountain operations. It is not make-work. It is the real thing.

"You're going to be asked to do some things that you really don't want to do," Herrick told interns during orientation. "That's a part of work. How do you manage that? How do you respond to that? And what's the difference between being asked to do something that is not really appealing and being asked to do something that's dangerous? Let's identify that line."

The interns are not being dropped into the deep end. Far + Wise put them through a two-day orientation — a first for the program — covering everything from workplace expectations to a First Aid and CPR course.

Every intern is also completing an OSHA 10 certification, which involves 10 hours of workplace safety training. For kids heading to construction sites, that is not optional. It is essential.

Each intern also has a mentor at Far + Wise that they can call when the workplace gets confusing. If a boss makes a comment they don't understand, the guide helps them figure out what happened and how to respond.

Was it a joke? Was it inappropriate? Should it be reported? These are skills most adults struggle with. Far + Wise is teaching them to teenagers.

The host companies received their own manual on how to interact with teenage interns, including expectations for weekly formal check-ins and feedback. Lee Gilman Construction, a longtime partner, signed on to support two interns this summer.

"Adding that structure goes a long way," Herrick said.

On the academic side, the five-week Summer Bridge program through the Wood River YMCA will again serve 50 to 60 elementary students with its mix of structured learning and play.

Brand new this year is a six-week summer enrichment program designed specifically for middle schoolers — the kids who might otherwise spend their summer on screens or watching younger siblings.

The menu of activities is enormous: outdoor adventure, soccer, book club, river ecology, conservation and rafting on the Salmon River. One Soccer program, which has operated in the Wood River Valley for years, is available to Far + Wise students at 75 percent off — the only program this summer where parents of Far + Wise participants pay anything.

Herrick's personal favorite is an overnight trip to the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls for seventh graders. The students will attend sample classes ranging from traditional English to diesel mechanics. They will eat in the dining hall, sleep in the dorms and tackle a ropes course on campus.

"We're trying to start as early as possible to create a college-bound culture," Herrick said. "I don't want to assume that the conversations about college are not happening, but they might not be. For some of these kids, they have no idea what a college looks like. So, let's go to the closest college, the one that is most financially accessible, and let's take a look."

A three-day river conservation program brings together five organizations, including Project Bigwood, The Nature Conservancy and 5B Anglers, to teach kids about river ecology, water conservation and fly fishing. Students will search for aquatic insects to understand river health, learn about molting and evolution in the ecosystem and even paint watercolors of the trout they catch.

On the career exploration side, six established programs are running this summer, including culinary school and two carpentry workshops. One carpentry workshop will be held at CSI; the other, at the Wood River High School carpentry shop, which Herrick described as an impressive facility for construction, woodworking and milling.

A law enforcement program for 14 middle schoolers will build on a nine-month law enforcement class over the school year that graduated 24 kids.

Come next school year, Far + Wise will have 150 students in its after-school program with a new kindergarten class starting up. The organization is also building out a middle school afterschool program, adding seventh graders to the sixth-grade group it launched this most recent school year.

The program is being designed specifically for the developmental needs of middle schoolers — heavier on homework support and executive functioning skills, with incentives like a Starbucks run if no one in the group has a missed assignment for two weeks.

"Middle schoolers can be very messy with their organization," Herrick said. "Not all, but many."

The progression will eventually extend through eighth grade and into high school, fulfilling Far + Wise's mission of supporting students from elementary school through their post-secondary careers.

That mission has evolved since the organization's days as part of the nationwide I Have a Dream Foundation, when the sole focus was getting kids through high school and into college. Herrick's predecessor Laura Rose-Lewis had the vision to break with the national organization to provide wider opportunities beyond college. Rose-Lewis raised more than $2 million for the program last year, a big jump from $80,000 when she took the reins of the program. And she created a credit recovery program that lets students work in the summer to recover credits they missed during the school year so they wouldn't be held back. She also created the Center for Career Excellence and partnered with Idaho Base Camp and the Summerbridge program.

Herrick said the reality of higher education has shifted since the original Dreamers embarked on their journey.

"College is becoming more expensive, more competitive, and the return on that investment feels like it's being diluted for many people," he said. "AI is definitely pressing into those entry-level jobs. So that's adding pressure to the college decision."

Under its Far + Wise identity, the organization now supports students across a broad spectrum — college, apprenticeships, military service, jobs and internships.

The results from its original Dreamer class, which graduated from high school in June 2022, bear that out. About eight of those graduates are completing or have completed college degrees. One Dreamer is about to start a four-year journeyman apprenticeship in plumbing and is using his scholarship funds for tools instead of tuition, the wherewithal to do that created when the board rebranded Far + Wise and broadened how scholarship money could be used.

Last year's interns also showed real impact. One student who interned at the Senior Connection is now pursuing a nursing degree and is attending CSI on a scholarship she got for completing that internship.

One of the original Dreamer graduates will serve as the keynote speaker at Far + Wise's annual fundraiser, which will be held July 23 at The Argyros in Ketchum.

Herrick said every conversation he has had with the Dreamer graduates has left him impressed.

"They have had to fight through some really hard things in their lives to be successful," he said. "Parents being incarcerated. Having zero money to go to college. Kids being the English speaker for their family feeling like they can't go off to do what they have to do because of the sense of obligation to their parents. These are the barriers."

Herrick's own goal for the organization is simple and specific.

"My hope is that within a couple of years, no student has a blank under their face in the annual list of local graduates," he said, referring to seniors who have no stated plans past high school graduation.

A SNAPSHOT OF FAR + WISE:

Far + Wise provides academic support and experiential education for students from early elementary through high school and beyond. By removing financial and other barriers, the organization ensures that all students can achieve their life, education and career goals.

For more information, visit https://www.farandwise.org/.