Source of Confidence Expedition

2 Women. 4,000 Miles. A Source-to-Sea Expedition exploring the Source of Confidence on the 4th Longest River System in the World.

During the summer and fall of 2016 Lisa Pugh and Alyce Kuenzli became the only all female expedition to traverse this river system. A once in a lifetime expedition. They used their expedition to inspire and teach girls and women to discover their own source’s of confidence, using Adventure Learning. They document their experiences on the expedition and uploaded video, photographs, and blog posts, in real time. The expedition served as a platform for exploring what confidence is and how to build it. Alyce and Lisa used the Wilderness Classroom to showcase their successes, failures, triumphs, and challenges on the rivers and the tools they use to persevere. Along with a curriculum designed to build skills in communication, problem-solving, decision making, and, of course, self-confidence. Together, Lisa and Alyce have over twenty years of experience facilitating this process and used the Source of Confidence Expedition to teach these confidence-building ideas to a larger audience of girls and women.

Mission Statement: Supporting Girls & Women in Navigating Their Own Paths to Confidence.

The Why?:

As young girls and teenagers when Lisa and Alyce encountered situations they were unsure about, they often heard the phrase, “just be confident”. But what does that mean? How do I do that? It was confusing and frustrating to hear a word attached to an expectation with little understanding of how to achieve it. They needed role models, to see it and experience it, and tools to begin to understand it. It was through their experiences with wilderness travel and extended expeditions that they each discovered how to build confidence: through positive risk taking, processing both success and failure, and applying those learnings to new situations. By learning to process these experiences, Alyce and Lisa built confidence and the next risk didn’t seem so intimating. By repeating this process, both on expeditions and off, they felt an increasing internal inspiration to take on greater challenges. This is the concept Lisa and Alyce will role model and teach through this expedition.