ReCharge!
ReCharge!
Retreat Details
Place is important. ReCharge! takes place on the south slope of Oregon’s iconic Mt. Hood (Wy’east). The serenity of huge tall trees, high-altitude air, and the power of this mountain create an environment that helps Delegates unplug, reflect, and engage with an older natural rhythm. The glaciers on Mt. Hood have also experienced significant snowpack loss due to the effects of climate change. Elliot Glacier on the north slope, which the delegates visit during the retreat, has lost 60% of its snowpack since 1982.
The retreat takes place at the historic Mazama Lodge at approximately 4100 ft. The Mazamas is a mountaineering organization founded in 1894. Their mission is to promote mountaineering through education, climbing, hiking, fellowship, safety, and the protection of mountain environments.
Portland, Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge is also an area of the country that is accelerating its energy story toward renewables--which allows Focus the Nation to provide the Delegates with access to candid conversations with community members and energy experts who deal every day with the practical realities of making that transition happen.
During ReCharge! the delegates go on a guided energy tour that takes them to Oregon’s only coal plant (scheduled to shut down in 2020) located in Boardman, OR; visit the Biglow Canyon Windfarm near Rufus, OR and also visit a major hydro-power facility in The Dalles, OR. Physically experiencing energy generation facilities and engaging with the people who work there is a critical educational component to helping young leaders realize the magnitude of our energy transition challenge.
Once we select each year’s cohort of ReCharge! Delegates, we hand pick local and national experts in each of our four Quadrants based on the unique backgrounds and interests of the Delegates. These guests visit with the Delegates throughout the week to help answer questions and share their own stories about how they’ve built a career that’s affecting change on many levels.
Collaboration
Accelerating solutions to big deep systemic problems requires four kinds of highly talented, highly effective people: Technicians, Politicos, Innovators, and Storytellers. We call these our Collaboration Quadrants. Each year’s cohort of Delegates is comprised of 5 students in each of those quadrants. The week-long retreat helps students not only better understand how important their own quadrant is in the larger picture, but also how important each of the other’s is. Our facilitators guide the Delegates through several practices that build collaboration skills among all four quadrants.
Technician:
Technicians need opportunities to build and maintain the infrastructure of solutions
Innovator:
Innovators need opportunities to create and demonstrate the power of new ideas
Politico:
Politicos need opportunities to craft and advocate for policies that drive a transformative public agenda
Storyteller:
Storytellers need opportunities and content to shape the narrative of their generation's engagement with the clean energy transition
Testimonials
"I actually feel recharged and I have never been this excited about anything. Everyone around me has commented on the air of positivity I’ve had since the retreat. I feel like I have peers and that I’m part of a large network of dedicated and passionate youth."
"[The Energy Tour was] one of the coolest things I’ve ever participated in. An eye-opening experience that left me exhausted throughout the entire week."
"Since being back, I have encountered tons of opportunities and I think that is due to the positive and energetic outlook I left Recharge with. I feel like there is so much that I can do with my life and that I have important things to offer the clean energy movement."
"The retreat also gave me a clearer vision of what my role is and will be in accomplishing a clean energy future for the country. It gave me a clearer idea of how I want to pursue a career in this field because it showed me why my particular skills were valuable."
Application Requirements
Focus the Nation has designed the ReCharge! Retreat to not only enhance and explore the deeper-set of skills needed for Clean Energy Leadership but also to provide a supportive framework through the Forums-to-Action (F2A) program to implement what you learn at the retreat in your own community when you return to your campus in the fall.
College students between the ages of 18-28 who have a passion for clean energy are encouraged to apply. Focus the Nation is dedicated to bringing a together students from a diversity of backgrounds:
- economic diversity
- 4-year and 2-year campuses
- rural, urban and suburban environments
- 5 students from each collaboration quadrant
Two references are required as a part of your ReCharge! Application. At the end of the online application there is a space to enter their name and contact information.
- an Academic Reference (a professor, academic advisor, former teacher etc)
- a Community Reference (a member of an organization, neighbor, faith-based institution, volunteer coordinator etc.)
Applicants must be available to participate in the entire retreat. The cost of participation is covered by Focus the Nation.*
Please contact us with any questions about the application criteria and/or selction process.
All applications will be reviewed by our ReCharge! selection panel and decisions will be made on the basis of
- meeting our diversity requirements
- assessment of applicant’s leadership skills
- passion for clean energy
- positive personal and/or professional references.
*FTN will cover the cost of room, board, retreat activities, and up to $400 in airfare.
To submit an application you will have to sign in to the website. If you have not yet signed up on the FTN website you will be directed to create a profile before you begin your application. FTN does not share any personal information with third parties
Retreat Facilitation
The ReCharge! facilitators, Enrique Salmon and Stephanie Pollack help guide the Delegates throughout the entire week-long curricula and are provided by our partner, The Center for Whole Communities (CWC). CWC is a land-based leadership development organization based on Knoll Farm in Fayston, VT that has extensive expertise in facilitating diverse groups of people to deepen their sense of purpose. In the winter of 2010, after experiencing their work first-hand at a retreat in the summer of 2009 at Knoll Farm, FTN executive director Garett Brennan engaged CWC’s director Ginny McGinn to help co-design what would become the ReCharge! Retreat. With almost ten years of expertise in retreat facilitation and designing whole-thinking curricula, CWC helped FTN put shape to what had become a glaring unmet need in preparing the next generation for the clean energy transition: how to recharge---so that we don’t burn through our rising talent like we do our fossil fuels.
