Registration for this 9-day program is open to students at Sonoma Academy. Contact Rites of Passage to learn how to bring this transformative event to your school or youth group.
This is a classic coming of age Wilderness Quest program in the tradition of Rites of Passage, which has offered youth quests since our beginning in 1977. Since the dawn of humanity, young people have felt a need to undertake meaningful rites of passage as they approach adulthood. Lacking the opportunity to engage in positive initiatory experiences, youth may instead make attempts at self-initiation, which often fail to bring increased maturity and self-responsibility. Since our inception 45 years ago, Rites of Passage has offered the opportunity for youth to confirm and celebrate their entry into adulthood. The increased self-knowledge and self-respect that result from participation in a youth rite of passage can have a positive effect that lasts a lifetime.
Parental permission is required for participation of anyone under age 18. Both parents and young people are encouraged to contact us with any questions or concerns.
This program and experience changed my life. As a friend once said, I now find that the glass is always going to feel half full. I had no expectations for this program, and it exceeded everything I thought it could. I love the comfort and growth it has brought me, and showed inside me. It illuminated a large part of the inside of me that I know will serve me forever.
–Chase, age 17
Through this experience, I have found more inside of myself than I ever thought could possibly exist—so much appreciation, so much beauty, so much truth, so much love. I discovered both the darkness of myself and the darkness of the earth. And when the sun rose the next morning, I saw both myself and the world we all live in in a new light.
–Clio, age 18
Vanessa Eyen
