Spring Break Backbacking

Students gathered together on April 22 after school for a 3 day spring break backpacking trip in the Harpers Creek area. 8 students at 4 Mountain Alliance staff members went on the trip.
Harpers Creek provided a great setting for a fun long weekend. Warm weather also helped to make the trip a success. Students were able to swim, hike, and have a great time making friends on the trip.Check out other Mountain Alliance happenings on our facebook page and don't forget about Pancakes in the Park this Saturday, May 7 from 7am-11am.

Youth Service Day 2011

Global Youth Service Day took place this past Saturday, April 16. Mountain Alliance hosted the 4th Annual Youth Service Day for Watauga County. The Students Leadership Committee met weekly after school throughout the semester to plan YSD. The goals of Youth Service Day are to:

• Mobilize youth to identify and address needs of their community through service
• Support youth on their life-long path of service and civic engagement.
• Educate the public, the media, and policy makers about the year round contributions the youth in Watauga County are currently involved in.
  

This year 44 students participated in the event, volunteering their time at 4 different service sites. Students gathered at Watauga High School at 9am Saturday for the event. After waiting for the weather to improve groups split up and departed for their service sites. This year the service sites were Horn in the West, Children's Playhouse, Horse Helpers' Chompin' at the Bit Auction and Clinic, and a river clean-up site. Heavy rain Friday night and Saturday morning prevented us from going to the Humane Society and Elk Knob to work. After finishing at the sites students came back to the high school where there was a party to celebrate their service and hard work.

At Horn in the West students worked in the Amphitheater setting up chairs and preparing the site for an event. The River clean-up group started by picking up trash on Highland Avenue before heading to the river. Students assisted the Children's Playhouse in their consignment sale that took place at the Armory Saturday. The final group headed out to Trade, TN for Horse Helpers' 1st Annual Chompin' at the Bit Tack Auction and Clinic. Students helped to model items being auctioned and also helped with the parking at the event. As a result of Youth Service Day, participants collectively contributed 174 hours of service to Watauga County.

Hospitality House

Mountain Alliance has been cooking meals monthly at the Hospitality House for the past 10+ years. This is one of our students favorite service projects that helps connect them with individuals in need. Each month students slice, dice and chop food with the goal of having a healthy complete meal ready to be served at 5:30.

This month was our last time serving meals at the King Street shelter. Those of you that have ever been to the old shelter know how excited we are to cook in the new industrial kitchen at the new facility.

Here are some pictures from some Hospitality House trips in the past.
Hospitality House Slideshow

Mountain Alliance Happenings

This year Mountain Alliance continues to offer a ski series as part of the Spring calendar. There are 3 trips to Appalachian Ski Mountain as part of the series. The first trip took place on January 29. Mountain Alliance staff and students had a great time enjoying the snow at App Ski Mountain. The second trip of the series was canceled due to poor weather conditions and is rescheduled for February 25. The third and final ski trip for this spring will take place on March 18.

Other recent trips include a caving trip to Worley's Cave in Bluff City, TN. On the trip students learned about cave formations and how they are formed. They also learned about how sensitive the cave ecosystems are. Students had a great time crawling around and getting dirty in the cave.

On Wednesday, February 9 Mountain Alliance students went to the Humane Society. Some students walked and other rode bikes to and from the Humane Society from the high school. At the Humane Society students broke into groups to walk dogs, give puppies baths, and to play with dogs and cats. The students helped to socialize and provide care to the animals at the shelter.


Students met in the Mountain Alliance office Thursday, February 10 after school to decorate cookies and make cards for the Western Watauga Community Center and Meals on Wheels. The students were able to socialize after school while helping out the community.

Upcoming trips include cooking a Valentine's Day dinner at the Hospitality House, an overnight caving trip to Worley's Cave, shelter building, a hike and fire trip, and a service trip at Horse Helpers of the High Country.

To keep up with what's going on at Mountain Alliance follow us out on Facebook or Twitter.

Silent Auction location change

The silent auction and raffle will be going on tomorrow, Saturday January 29, from 9-5 in the Blowing Rock Community Center, NOT the Blowing Rock School. The Blowing Rock Community Center is located on Main Street, behind the library. Come out to show your support to Mountain Alliance, there will be over 250 items to bid on!

Winterfest!!!

As winter weather continues to make a presence in Boone, Mountain Alliance is preparing for Winterfest, which takes place January 27-30, 2011 in Blowing Rock. Winterfest is an annual event that includes concerts, games, an ice carving competition, a polar plunge, a silent auction, and many more fun activities. Mountain Alliance students and staff will be participating in the polar plunge to help raise money for Mountain Alliance. In addition, all of the proceeds from the silent auction and raffle will go directly to Mountain Alliance!

All of the money raised from the silent auction and raffle will help provide service and adventure trips for youth in the community. The silent auction takes place this Saturday, January 29 from 9a.m. to 5p.m. in the Blowing Rock School cafeteria. The prize pick up will be later that evening. The Blowing Rock School is located on Morris Street, just off of Main Street in downtown Blowing Rock.

The silent auction will feature items donated by area retailers. With a wide selection of items, there is something for everyone. Some highlighted items to bid on include tickets to the Appalachian Summer Festival, stays at local inns and resorts, family pool and fitness memberships, fly fishing trips, tickets to Biltmore Estates, guided rafting and canoe trips, a number of cleaning services, tickets to the 2012 Winter Feast and Chili Cook off, spa and therapy treatments, and a number of other gifts and services.

Make sure to come out and support Mountain Alliance at the silent auction, and polar plunge for the brave ones out there, this Saturday, January 29.

Fall 2010 Highlights

This fall at Mountain Alliance has been packed full of service and adventure trips. We kicked the year off in August by helping out at the annual Big Sale at Appalachian State University. We have also continued working with Hospitality House by taking students there once a month to cook for residents. This trip is always a favorite for students to work on their culinary skills while helping out local residents. Other service trips this fall included the New River Big Sweep, setting up and taking down the Valle Country Fair, volunteering at local races and climbing events, and helping build mountain biking trails at Rocky Knob Park.


Rocky Knob park is going to be a great resource in the future to Mountain Alliance. When completed, the trails will range from beginner to advance and will be a great local option to take students mountain biking. Currently this semester students have performed over 400 hours of service on trips offered by Mountain Alliance. We have 2 service trips left before Christmas to Mary's House on December 6 and to the Hospitality House on December 13 after school.


With great weather this fall many students from Watauga High School spent their time outside on Mountain Alliance adventure trips. We had a schedule packed full of hiking, climbing, biking, and backpacking trips.


We were able to offer 3 different overnight backpacking trips this fall to students. We were also able to take a series of trips to the climbing wall at Footsloggers where students developed climbing, belaying, and safety skills. Other climbing trips included going to Table Rock and Holloway Mountain. Biking trips offered this fall ranged from biking around Boone to trips to Virginia for the Virginia Creeper trail. We were also able to take trips North Wilkesboro to bike the Overmountain Victory Trail.


With winter quickly approaching, caving season is just around the corner and we are looking forward to offering students a full schedule of trips for the spring.