School and Group Programs
Chaperones and Students
Program Guidelines and Expectations
At Yosemite Institute, students will live and study closely together in an unfamiliar setting away from their homes and families. The following guidelines have been established to help students and adults prepare for and enjoy the experience safely.
Respect Each Other
- Respect personal space and property. It is important to take good care of your own belongings and leave others’ alone. Proper clothing and equipment are essential for a safe and comfortable experience.
- Treat everyone as you want to be treated. It is important that there be respectful dialogues among students, chaperones, teachers, and YI staff. Attentive listening and participation in events and activities are key signs of respect.
- Respect each person’s privacy. Students may only enter their own assigned cabin.
- Consider the needs of others. Quiet hours are observed between 9:30pm and 7:00am, except under special circumstances. Students are expected to be in their bunks and quiet by 9:30pm so that everyone can get enough sleep for the next day's adventures.
Respect and Care for Yourself
- Stay with your group when you are hiking or exploring during the program. Your chaperone must know where you are at all times.
- Behave in a safe and responsible manner while you are here. An accident or injury can ruin your trip or someone else’s.
- If you or someone you are with becomes sick or injured, contact your teacher, chaperone, or YI staff member immediately.
Respect the Environment
Take good care of the natural world around you that will be your home for the week. Your actions can either harm or help this place, so please behave appropriately.
The Leave No Trace guidelines below have been developed to help visitors to the wilderness understand how they can minimize their negative impact.
- Be prepared for the day. Wear and pack appropriate gear in your backpack including hiking boots, a warm jacket, hat, gloves, rain gear, leak-proof water bottle, notebook, pencil, and other items as requested by your YI instructor or teacher.
- Please stay on the trails. If we limit our travel to existing trails, we protect the plants and animals alongside the path. This is important to do for the sake of those living things and to allow other people the pleasure of walking in a wild and beautiful place. Please be observant and careful wherever you go. Attention to trail irregularities (roots, rocks, etc.) will help avoid unnecessary mishaps.
- Pick up natural objects like rocks, twigs, or leaves only to observe them. When you are finished, return them to where you found them. Do NOT throw objects, as throwing things can harm others and will disturb plants and wildlife.
- Dispose of waste properly. Pack out everything you pack in. You can also help the environment by picking up litter that others have carelessly left behind. Your instructor will inform you about the availability of restrooms and minimum impact ways to answer nature’s call while on the trail.
- Respect wildlife: though it can be tempting to approach, feed, or follow wild animals, please do not. Animals can be stressed when people approach or make loud noises near them. Human food is unhealthy for wild creatures and feeding animals can lead to their deaths. Animals can injure you and may carry serious diseases. Antagonistic human behavior may force animals into taking aggressive actions as a means of self-defense.
- Respect other visitors to wild places. Follow the directions of your YI instructor regarding noise level and what to do when your group meets other people on the trail.
- Collecting any natural objects within the National Park is prohibited.
For more information on Leave No Trace ethics, visit www.LNT.org.
While on Campus
- Help us be positive environmental stewards by conserving energy: turn off lights and heat when not in use. Also, REDUCE, REUSE & RECYCLE whenever possible.
-
Food is not allowed in cabins at any time. To avoid attracting rodents to the cabins, any food brought to Yosemite Institute must be given to an YI staff member for storage.
-
Please treat all cabins and facilities with care. These have housed students like yourself for many years and we hope that they may continue to do so for years to come. Students are financially responsible for any damage incurred during their stay.
-
Wood stoves provide heat at Crane Flat. Students must keep a safe distance from the woodstoves and only YI staff will tend stoves.
- Wooded and rocky areas around the campus are off limits to students, unless with a chaperone or a YI instructor.
