Program Information

Gonzaga Explore is open to any high school student including current seniors who will be graduating this spring. They must be at least a current high school freshman.

While most participants come from Catholic high schools around the Northwest, students from any kind of school, any geographic region, and any religious background are welcome.

Gonzaga Explore is a part of Gonzaga University's Jesuit, Catholic, and humanistic mission which means that the Gonzaga Explore Staff will treat and honor you as a human with dignity, no matter what. Every human being is created as a unique and sacred image of God (imago Dei), and this is an integral part of our program's theology and praxis.

Most of the Gonzaga Explore Staff are Catholic, and the content of Gonzaga Explore is rooted in Catholic theology and spirituality, so even if you're not Catholic, we hope and trust that there will be elements you can connect to and find meaning in, and we welcome diverse perspectives so we can all find a greater richness in our shared experiences.

Chaperones are welcome to join Gonzaga Explore completely free of cost!

This includes lodging, meals, and all activities including high-ropes, hiking, and white-water rafting.

During Explore, Chaperones will have no required responsibilities for facilitation or supervision of their students.

 

The program fee for Explore 2025 is $900.00 per participant.

The estimated cost breakdown is as follows:

As a non-profit educational institution and in alignment with our mission, we are committed to providing high-quality programs that are accessible and equitable.

If the program fee poses a barrier to you or your family, please select the option for financial assistance in the application, and contact us with any questions at 509-313-4262 or explore@gonzaga.edu.

In our small groups of Explorers led by Mentors who are current Gonzaga students, we’ll be adventuring into the Inland Northwest while:

• growing in faith, deepening our prayer life, and encountering the love and grace of God through the gift of creation
• hiking out to meet Guides who show us how both wild and urban landscapes are shaped
• getting our hands in the dirt at a regenerative farm that works in solidarity with local communities
• learning about Laudato Si' and engaging with ecological spirituality through incarnational, sacramental, and Christological experiences
• celebrating a Mass for Creation on the summit of Mt. Spokane
• discovering our unique gifts of the Holy Spirit
• practicing St. Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises and sharing our faith journeys in small groups
• climbing through a high-ropes course near Liberty Lake while living out an integral ecology
• rafting and flowing on the white-waters of the Clark Fork River in Montana to celebrate God's creation
• imagining our vocations in leadership and service to the church, the human family, and our common home
• widening and deepening our life's relationships and purpose in love and courage
• making lasting friendships and having lots of fun!

 

 

All Explorers will be provided lodging in the residence halls of Gonzaga University for the week. These facilities are secured and monitored, and our Mentors will be staying in the same residence halls as the Explorers to ensure their safety. While we'll be traveling all over the Inland Northwest (Washington, Idaho, and Montana), we'll return to our rooms at Gonzaga University every night.

All meals will be provided. Most meals will be at Gonzaga University's main dining hall, and some meals will be from local restaurants. All dietary restrictions and allergies will be carefully and thoroughly accommodated. Please be sure to communicate dietary and medical restrictions to us during registration.

If the PDF does not display correctly, click here to download a copy of the packing list.

 

While there is inherent risk in outdoor adventure, the Gonzaga Explore staff will take all feasible measures to mitigate risk and ensure safety. This includes appropriate training, emergency planning and preparedness, collaboration with other university departments and external organizations, reliable backcountry communication (satellite messaging and GPS tracking), and quality wilderness first aid and rescue equipment.

All Mentors receive training in basic protocols and best practices for outdoor adventure leadership, and the program director is certified and current as a Wilderness EMT through the National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Medicine Institute and the National Registry of EMTs.

The high-ropes course will be facilitated by certified guides at Mica Moon, and the white-water rafting will be led by certified guides at Pangaea River Rafting.

All transportation of Explorers will be through a chartered bus company.

Please be sure to communicate to us any food and dietary restrictions, allergies, and relevant medical injuries and histories during registration.

• 2015 - Pope Francis publishes Laudato Si': On Care for Our Common Home, an encyclical (papal letter) with a powerful appeal addressed to the Church and "all people of good will" to urgently come together and respond to “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” Learn more here.
  
  
• 2016 - The Francis Youth Institute is founded by co-directors Dr. Joseph Mudd and Dr. Anastasia Wendlinder of GU's Department of Religious Studies with a $300k grant from the Lilly Endowment's High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, the same grant that helped start sister programs such as Notre Dame Vision, Marian University's Missionary Disciples Institute, CSBSJU's Conversatio, and Boston College's Ever To Excel. FYI grows steadily as it lives out its mission of supporting the vocational discernment of high school students in theology and ministry with a special emphasis on caring for creation. Read more here.
  
  
• 2019 - As it continues to grow, management of the Francis Youth Institute is transferred to GU's Office of University Ministry, and with the leadership of Candace Williams and Luke Lavin, FYI adapts and survives through the pandemic and is re-named Gonzaga Explore.
  
  
• 2022 - University Ministry creates a position dedicated to animating Laudato Si' and directing Gonzaga Explore. Ben Chu is hired into the inaugural role.
  
  
• 2024 - The grant period ends, and Gonzaga Explore continues forth in its mission of serving high school students by accompanying them as they experience God's love in creation and discover their unique calling in care of the Church, their communities, and our common home.