Stanford Outdoor Outreach Program (SOOP)
The Stanford Outdoor Outreach Program is a group of undergrads and grad students who take high schoolers from East Palo Alto on hiking, camping, and backpacking trips to give them an opportunity to experience the natural world that they ordinarily wouldn't have.
We educate youth in hiking, eating, and sleeping in the outdoors and empower them to teach these skills to their peers.
Most of our excursions consist of weekend-long backpacking trips to nearby locations such as Henry Coe, Point Reyes, and the Desolation Wilderness. Two to three Stanford leaders plus one teacher from the partner school head each group of approximately 10 high school students. In addition to leader skill and expertise, we also provide gear such as external frame backpacks, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, stoves, and tents free of charge.