2024 Teen Wilderness Expedition Scholarship Recipients:
Kylie Hebert and Jaclyn McClintick
Scholarship Alumni
Kylie Hebert and Jaclyn McClintick received the Friends of Wilson Ponds Franklin Cole McIver Scholarship to attend the Teen Wilderness Expedition in 2024.
Kylie writes of her experience at TWE:
“I had a lot of fun at TWE camp. I was able to make new friends. I learned new card games from the other campers that I met.
We got to make tie dye shirts which was a lot of fun and all of us signed each of them. The theme of camp was survivor. They broke us up into groups to do challenges and compete against each other. I learned how to build a shelter.
We had a fire and were able to roast s’mores. We did a hike and could canoe back to camp instead of hiking back. I would be excited to go back next summer or try a different camp that they offer.”
Past TWE scholarship recipients include Lily Osborne, Abel Barker, Graceanne Brinkworth, Sophia Caiazzo, Lila Kronholm, Skylar Larabee, Devin Lauritsen, Chase Philbrook, Byron Santerre, Eben Santerre, Sky Scott, Tracer St. Jean and Dale Turner.
Frank C. McIver Scholarship
Yearly, the Friends of Wilson Ponds provides two Franklin Cole McIver Scholarships which
provide for two teens, ages 12-16, to attend the Teen Wilderness Expedition in July.
In 2025, the dates are July 15-17.
Please complete the application below and return it to Kay Johnson by May 15, 2025. You will be notified by June 15, 2025, if you have been awarded a scholarship and will receive TWE Registration Paperwork.
All applicants will be notified about the status of their application.
Click here to download the scholarship application.
About Teen Wilderness Expedition
The Piscataquis Soil and Water Conservation District, based in Dover-Foxcroft, offers its Teen Wilderness Expedition to kids aged 12-16 each summer. The teen participants go into the Maine woods for three days and two nights. . The Expedition focuses on connecting youth with the outdoors in meaningful ways by exposing the teens to a broad variety of possible outdoor activities, including hiking, learning to fly fish, and making tie-dye t-shirts with natural dye. They will also enjoy leadership skills-building exercises, and have plenty of time to relax, connect with each other and with nature at the AMC’s Gorman Chairback Lodge.
From Franklin Cole McIver’s Obituary:
Remembering Frank C. McIver
Frank's love of Maine's woods, her mountains, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and especially
North brook, graced him with many opportunities for simply being in the great
outdoors.
The camp at Upper Wilson Pond was his place for solitude and reflection; a place where
he could watch the sun rise up from behind Elephant Mountain with his dog, Molly, at
his side; sit under the stars with his wife to look at the moon over Blue Ridge, and listen
to the coyotes off in the distance, and the calls of the loons.
Camp was also a place where
he could spend more time with his sister, Lanie, reminiscing about their younger days
growing up together, and with her husband, Deane, with whom he had a close bond.
Whenever the grandchildren were there, breaking any silence with laughter, he always
took time and patience for instructing them in the ways of camp life; untangling fish lines
from tree branches, taking them exploring, looking for moose, and boating down to see
the eagle's nest. He also often reminded them that where they left footprints on the
beach, Native Americans once did the same. He instilled in his grandchildren a reverence
for nature and the importance of preserving it. As a board member and past president of
The Friends of Wilson Pond/and Association, Frank was committed to helping maintain
and preserve the pristine presence of that entire area. Over the years, he had planted
some 2,000 trees in the vicinity of Upper Wilson, and often checked on their growth
while on his walks, marveling at the huge stand that had filled-in an unused gravel pit,
which he referred to as, The Tree Farm.
"He that planteth a tree is the servant of God;
He provideth a kindness for many generations,
And faces that he hath not seen, shall bless him."