Montana Yellowstone Expeditions began in 2004 as an initiative of the Orfalea Family Foundation. Originally named Montana Youth Expeditions, the name was changed in the first year in response to suggestions from the first students at MYE.

The program began at the behest of Natalie Orfalea, who witnessed the impact similar programs had made on her two teenage children. In the spirit of her family foundation’s work with young people, families, healthcare, and education, and the organizations that support those efforts, MYE was envisioned as a place for teenagers to have a life changing experience in a natural setting, far from home, that might otherwise be unavailable to them.

In 2004, MYE began operations at it’s current Basecamp site in Tom Miner. We served 22 participants that first year. Many people at OF, the Smith’s, neighbors, friends and the Orfalea Family worked very hard to get the camp up and running; laying sod and working on the kitchen until late into the night before the first program.

Deer Hill Expeditions operated the program for MYE that first summer, bringing staff, equipment, food, and expertise up in two full vans from Colorado. Deer Hill was instrumental in getting MYE off the ground and providing a solid footing for the organization we are today and the program we run.

The groups in 2004 were such a rousing success that another summer was planned for 2005. The winter was spent solidifying the program, and working on the site, including the commercial kitchen that MYE uses to this day. Many improvements were made that helped the 2005 season operate and feel more like a strong program with a wide open future.

2005 was current Executive Director, Andy Leider’s first year with MYE. He was hired as Basecamp Manager and helped MYE to build logistical systems and run our second smooth summer with two groups of 12 students from California and Montana. 2005 also saw the start of the Internship at MYE and the further development of MYE’s educational and environmental goals.

At the end of 2005, MYE Foundation was established as the organization that would run and support MYE into the future. Deer Hill Expeditions, its staff and Owners, Doug and Beverly Capelin and their family, had done a remarkable job of allowing MYE to grow quickly from the ground up, build a strong, safe program, and set us up for success as we built our own organization with the continued strong support of the Orfalea Family Foundation and the Orfalea family.

2006 was a year of growth and transition. MYE Foundation began to develop its own systems for everything that MYE needed, including student selection, staffing, logistics, site management, permits, and transportation. It was a big winter! Building on the framework of Deer Hill, MYE developed our own way of being, our own goals, and our own program. We grew to serve 60 students that summer, from CA, MT, NY, and FL. It was a big summer and many people worked long hours to make it happen. It was also the first summer for current MYE Program Director Ellen Sagmyr, who worked for MYE as an Instructor.

Now at the start of 2008 we can look back on the last year one of more expansion, growth and huge strides forward in both our summer program and Life Skills programs. In 2007 we introduced rock climbing into our summer program, and MYEarth – our sustainability program - into both the teaching and operations side of the organization. We took the intern program up a notch – introducing a teaching curriculum to compliment the work experience, further developed our newsletter, formalized our scholarship program, made a new promotional video, built a new washroom and low ropes course elements at basecamp.

There was a significant turnover of staff from 2006 resulting in the majority of 2007 staff members being new to MYE. An eclectic bunch - from professional photographers to environmental interpreters to kinesiologists; they coalesced to create a dynamic group of people with a variety of skills, experience and knowledge. Two things they had in common was a passion for the outdoors and a drive to share this with our students and each other.

And the mission continues, with several people having joined Andy as permanent MYEF staff, including Cari Hanson - Sustainability Director and Ellen Sagmyr - Program Director. We have a part-time admin assistant, Sommer Raefaro, in our new Bozeman office and Jerry Lawrie has been employed as our permanent California based Life Skills Coordinator. We now have upwards of 160 alumni and our Life Skills program is getting busier by the month.

Our Montana-based summer course has been christened – it is now called the Wilderness Challenge Course (WC) – and we are looking forward to our biggest summer yet, with 6 WC courses, a Leadership Lab and Intern Program all planned in summer 2008. Thanks to the appointment of Jerry, for the first time the California Life Skills program will continue to run through the summer when typically our focus would be mainly on our summer program.

So MYEF is an exciting place to be and there are no signs of things slowing down. Watch this space for more developments….