About Our Founder
Derek Peterson left high school with a list of dreams.
He desired an interesting life.
Peterson values young people and respects their experiences and insights on how the world works and could work better.
For 40 years, Peterson has worked in student-centered education and youth development. He has designed and facilitated presentations, workshops, and seminars for over 3000 audiences on resilience and youth leadership.
In 1992, after achieving distinction as one of the youngest college vice presidents in the nation, he and his first wife “took two years on” to attempt to become the first couple to tandem bicycle the western hemisphere.
Some things you might find interesting about Derek:
- Finished college in three years.
- Earned a Fellowship to get his master’s degree in Counseling.
- Traveled to 24 states in Mexico.
- He traveled to all 50 states before he was 30.
- Guest lectured at some of the US’s most prestigious colleges and universities.
- Bungie jumped from the 2nd highest jump in the world.
- Soloed in a paraglider in New Zealand.
- Played basketball with and against several NBA stars.
- Raised over $25 million for projects he believed in.
- Mushed a team of dogs down a portion of Alaska’s Iditarod Trail.
- He has 60 SCUBA dives in his dive book.
- He lived on a sailboat for six years in San Francisco Bay.
- Did not own nor watch television for 24 years.
- Did not own a car for 11 years of his adult life.
- Bicycled around New Zealand for two months
- Kayak the Noatak River in Alaska’s far north for 24 days, one of the most remote regions on earth.
- He left his career in 2004 to be a ranch hand in northern Idaho.
- He walked rim to river to rim and return across the Grand Canyon in under 24 hours - twice.
- As a MYTH (multi-year thru-hiker), he has hiked 2000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
- Adopted into two first nations kinship networks.
- Walked L2H - from the lowest point in the continental US to the highest.
- Worked in 174 Alaskan communities and villages.
- Worked in Botswana, radio collaring Corrie Bustards.
- Traveled over 2,000,000 miles on commercial jets and tens of thousands of miles on Bush Planes.
- Worked in 32 US States, 4 Canadian Provinces and Territories, and five foreign nations.