Kids are spending more time indoors with the growing popularity of technology given to them each day. Computers, video games, and television are taking over and it's getting more difficult to get kids to enjoy the simple pleasures of the outdoors.

Recently, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission has been avidly promoting Seattle to get kids outdoors through the No Child Left Inside Initiative. No Child Left Inside is a grant program that was provided with congressional funds and legislation that allowed $1.5 million to support Washington state outdoor education and recreation youth programs.

No Child Left Inside had a simple goal - to provide underserved students with quality opportunities to experience the natural world. The initiative wanted to see improvements in overall academic performance, life skills, self-esteem, personal responsibility, community involvement, personal health and understanding of nature, and a way to do this is to engage students in outdoor education and recreation experiences.

Seattle Parks and Recreation offers the Outdoors Opportunities program also known as O2 - located in three areas: North Seattle branch's Discovery Park, West Seattle branch's Camp Long and the newly re-opened South Seattle branch's Seward Park location. Outdoor Opportunities recruits teens from high schools in Seattle and their primary goal is to expose multi-ethnic teens to environmental education, urban conservation and stewardship.

The Outdoor Opportunities program was one of 300 applicants that applied for the No Child Left Inside grant in Washington and received the announcement in April that they'd be given $93,678 of the $1.5 million allocated to support the programs that they ran.

With the money they hope to expand the newly remodeled Seward Park location by hiring a permanent Outdoor Opportunities staff member, lease a van and use a portion of the funds to cover the operating expenses of running the program at all three facilities.

The Outdoor Opportunities program is a year round program that has both a school year and summer calendar for students ages 15 to 19 years old. The program is directed towards city teens who do not get the opportunities to enjoy outdoors recreation, so the program would help the teens learn life skills, outdoor living skills, and biological and ecological theory. During the school year, they get to be regularly involved in weekly workshops and activities and monthly overnight trips. Trips include backpacking, rock climbing, snowboarding, rafting, canoeing, kayaking, sailing, snow camping and shoeing and biking all at beginner and advanced levels.

As summer comes around, workshops will be offered more on a daily basis and overnights in longer periods of time.

Bob Warner, who leads the program at Camp Long and who help put together the structure of the program in 1994 said, "Historically outdoor recreation is predominately white middle to upper class and our program ever since conception is 80 percent people of color so it's exact opposite of what the outdoor recreational world is made up of."

Warner explained that he thinks that's what the whole point of their program is, is to expose city teens to outdoor recreation. They go to the schools, recruit students and to them it's not income or ethnicity specific so everyone is welcome.

"It doesn't make a difference if they are below the poverty line or they make millions of dollars a year we can all participate in the program. A lot of things people learn on these trips aren't just about the trips or what environment they're in, it is what they learn from each other. The more diverse it is the more people can learn, whether that be cultural diversity or social diversity. Often times those are the most important lessons," said Warner.

All of the activities provide food, equipment and supplies. There is zero cost and the only things they need to bring is clothing and applicable permission forms. Warner said the program is becoming more popular and has been a strong program for a number of years. The program has grown from one to three locations.

However, gaining an outdoor experience and education is not the only thing teens gain from the program. Outdoor Opportunities also offers monthly community service projects where students can gain service learning hours or high school elective credits to fill requirements for graduation.

Outdoor Opportunities also assists in shaping students to become great community leaders through Stewardship Training and Junior Naturalist Training. Through Stewardship training they are professionally trained in the logistics of planning, organizing and instructing stewardship projects throughout the city. Junior Naturalist Training trains and certifies them as City of Seattle O2 Junior Naturalists. They then are placed in the field as environmental educators and interpreters.

"They (Outdoor Opportunities) teach you to be a leader. You learn a lot of technical skills and everyone has their own responsibilities. You learn how to work with people," said Nikolas Vasquez, 17, a student at West Seattle High School and a three-year veteran of the Outdoor Opportunities Program.

Warner said one of the things to think about in the kid's perspective is that the program offers a variety of activities and events. Weekend, overnighters, service projects - the program covers a broad spectrum of the outdoors that teens can pick and choose whatever they want to be a part of. All events are taught in an introductory level and Warner said it's a really good time to explore something when you've never done it before.

"It's like the analogy of climbing for the first time, it's scary you have a lot of adrenaline, it's different but as you continue to climb you become more and more confident and comfortable and it becomes more exciting and fun," said Warner on kids who begin and continue on with the program.

But students aren't the only ones who can get involved. Outdoor Opportunities is always in need of adult volunteers. Since they have limited staff they often rely on volunteers to help out at service projects, after school activities and on overnight trips. Whether they have experience in a particular activity or not, Warner explains that it's good just to have another supervisor who cares about teens and the outdoors.

"People can come and go as they please they can attend and go to as few or as many activities as they like. I just encourage people to check it out and try it," Warner said.

Student enrollment for the program is open all year round with no deadline. If parents or students want to get involved visit www.seattle.gov/parks/teens/o2 or O2 South Seattle contact Bob Warner at 206-684-7097 or robert.warner@seattle.gov or North Seattle contact Matt Axling at 206-390-1018 or matt.axling@seattle.gov.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 932.0300 or allisone@robinsonnews.com