Last Friday, the Sierra Nevada Journeys team celebrated a successful year of serving youth from Northern Nevada and Northern California through outdoor science programming. We played a few rounds of bowling with our family and friends at the Grand Sierra Resort. We can't say we're as good at bowling as we are science, but we sure tried!
When we celebrate our successes, we remind ourselves each year about our core values which we call "QARE."
We are committed to outstanding quality (Q)
We strive to improve through rigorous evaluations of our actions
We flexibly embrace change that makes our programs and operations better
We celebrate actions that demonstrate our commitment to excellence
We are accountable (A)
We do what we say we’ll do for each other and for our stakeholders
At all levels of our team, we set, commit to, and reach specific goals
We respect each other and ourselves (R)
We foster a respectful work environment by using supportive actions and words to positively impact our teammates and ensuring our co-workers do the same
We work to understand the goals and challenges of our team, participants and donors, and integrate these considerations into our actions
We believe that a diverse set of backgrounds and skills adds value to our organization
We provide unforgettable experiences (E)
We keep participants’ safety, education and experience at the forefront of our actions
We recognize the uniqueness of our experience for our participants, and show up each day ready to deliver
We are happy to announce the four individuals who we thought best represented each value in 2016.
Q - Debbie Fairbanks, our Housekeeping Manager, represents the core value of Quality. She is always working to make our campus as clean and pleasant as possible, she accepts change with a smile on her face and she is a positive role model for all staff and clients.
(not pictured)
A - Olive Poulsen, Residential Outdoor Science Instructor, represents the core value of Accountability. We can always rely on Olive to meet our mission as well as the needs of her students. She will be coming back next season to lead our newest camp session "Counselor-in-Training" (CIT) as the CIT Director.
R - Greggor Manning, Sous Chef, represents the core value of Respect. He respects his co-workers, and listens to their questions and concerns and provides solutions when able. He understands that teamwork is essential. His family life and past experience in the food industry is invaluable.
E - Lourdes Calzada, Part-Time Educator, represents the core value of Unique Experiences. Lourdes has a positive attitude and a smile that brightens up the room. She provides unforgettable experiences to not only her students, but to our SNJ staff through the newly adopted culture committee.
Thank you to our entire team for a wonderful year! We couldn't achieve our mission without your hard work and dedication.