About Us

Community Action, Sustainability, Systems Thinking & Youth Wellness practices integrated within all ITE programs.

Community Action

Community Action is experienced through local projects and partnerships that encourage adolescents to voice their perspectives, contribute solutions and actively engage with contemporary, and relevant, community issues that affect urban and wilderness areas.

All ITE EcoPrograms empower adolescents by providing appropriate opportunities to contribute their enthusiasm and perspectives towards solutions to contemporary community issues regarding environmental and social concerns. Furthermore, ITE EcoPrograms emphasize the importance and value of viewing the community as a resource for learning.

Sustainable Practices

Sustainable Practices are fostered through personal choices that consider the social, ecological and economical systems of a community. 

  • Social/Cultural systems are the interactions between people; and their environment.
  • Ecological systems are the interactions between the geology, hydrology, and climatology and regional flora and fauna.
  • Economic systems are the exchanges of goods and services.

All ITE EcoPrograms emphasize sustainable practices for a livable planet.
Considerations of sustainable practices within the social system include enhanced awareness and knowledge of historical and contemporary cultures and traditions such as festivals, artistic expressions, foods, and stories.

Sustainable practices within the ecological system preserves the integrity of the natural world by respecting all species of life and therefore not forsaking the natural world for financial gain.

EcoPrograms emphasize an economic system that respects and preserves the natural world without jeopardizing the health of ecosystems or the well being of humanity and non-human life.

Systems Thinking

Systems Thinking: an essential part of ecological restoration, conservation and local and regional planning. A systems approach helps youth understand the complexity of the world around them and encourages them to think in terms of relationships, connectedness, and context.

Youth Wellness

Youth Wellness emerges from foundational lessons and practices in teamwork, character development, physical activity and nutrition; and from experiences within healthy environments.

All ITE EcoPrograms include experiences that require physical activity that energizes the body, mind and spirit.

Nutrition education stems from the purchase and use of high quality foods both in taste and nutritional value, foods that are available by ITE participant families, and are grown and harvested in sustainable ways.

EcoPrograms advocate preservation of healthy environments with the ultimate goal of enhancing the health and wellbeing of humanity and wildlife.

Teamwork and Character Development is strengthened by experiences throughout the local urban community and wilderness areas and through challenges that require adolescents to explore, contemplate, and take action.

ITE serves adolescents by creating opportunities that enhance leadership and cooperative skills and personal growth.

ITE realizes that adolescence is a stage of development that necessitates exploration, discovery, and understanding of themselves, others and their place in society.