I had my lightbulb moment in college. I was taking a queer theory class, and one day the professor invited two graduate students to talk about a writing space they'd created for LGBTQ kids. I'd noticed this disconnect between my queer friends and my outdoorsy friends, so being 20 years old and thinking I could change the world, I wrote my senior thesis about.how to build an organization that gets queer kids Into the outdoors. After I graduated, I worked as a commercial wilderness guide in Alaska for a couple of years, then came back to Seattle and got to work turning my thesis into Out There Adventures. We received our nonprofit status in 2014, and ever since it's been full-on trying to raise money and get programs going. Elyse Rylander of Bellingham, WA took charge and founded Out There Adventures. Read full feature here.
