SERVICE
LEARNING CREW (11-13)
About Service Learning Crew
Service Learning Crew (SLC) provides education and experience in citizenship, volunteerism, community service, and self-development for youth based in Routt and Moffat Counties. Service projects include gardening, planting trees and flowers, trash pick-up, light trail work, and other community beautification projects. SLC enhances youth's sense of belonging and community connection through meaningful outdoor-based service projects, education, and group recreation activities.
Sessions are two weeks long, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm. Crews have ten to twelve mixed-gender crew members (youth) who are supervised by two crew leaders. Crew leads supervise , facilitate education curriculum, and help engage youth in the conservation-based projects in the community. Each session has a registration fee of $200.
Scholarships are available to cover the $200 registration cost.
Each day, crews participate in 2-3 hours of volunteer activities, 1-2 hours of education, and 2-3 hours of crew recreation time. There is an optional two-night overnight on the second Wednesday and Thursday of the session. All camping gear and food for the overnight stay is provided.
See 2025 session dates, a packing list, and sign up here!
Leader
Application (21+)
A few questions you (and your family) may have
Assistant SLC Leader Application (16+)
APPLICATION
POSITION DESCRIPTION
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A Day in the Lfe of RMYC’s Service Learning Crew
It's a somewhat chaotic scene. Ten kids are trying to fill up water bottles around an outside table in the yard of local nonprofit Partners for Youth. In all, they’ll fill 1,200 of them for aid stations at this year’s Emerald Mountain Epic Race, which benefits Routt County Riders and Partners for Youth. But that’s only in the water actually makes it into the bottles.
The banter from the bottle-filling speaks for itself. “Hey, you just dumped it out!” comes one cry. “Ow, my toe…you got my pants wet!” yells another. “Hey, you’re splashing me!” chimes in a third. Charlie Rosemond, and fellow crew leader Madelyn Amashita, are amazed things haven’t broken out into a full-on water fight yet.
The kids, ages 11-13, are part of RMYC’s Service Learning Crew (SLC), which provides education and experience in citizenship, volunteerism, community service, and self-development for local middle school youth in Routt and Moffat counties. The bottle-filling project is their second chore today; earlier, they were at Hayden Fresh Farms, moving birds and eggs around—and the obligatory blowing of feathers. “It involved a lot of relocating chickens and collecting eggs,” says SLC crew leader Charlie Rosemond. “It was their favorite project of the entire two weeks.” And it was certainly better than an earlier project removing noxious weeds from Stagecoach State Park, which Charlie says, “makes filling water bottles pretty fun.”
Usually, the crews work on a project for two hours each morning, then partake in a recreational activity in the afternoon. Today, however, that “recreational activity” is filling water bottles—which many of them are making into a game or water fight. “It’s my favorite because I get to play in the water,” says participant Finn Gannon, 11, between splashes. “But I also like going to the farm.”
Right now, for the first time ever, RMYC has three such Service Learning Crews operating simultaneously, with 30 youth in the field (usually, it hosts five two-week sessions throughout the summer, each fielding two crews of 10). The other crews operating now are led by leaders Eli Schechter and Felicia Hart, and Becky Maly and Macy Canedy. This is Charlie’s sixth year with RMYC; the first he spent as a crew member, the last four as an assistant leader, and this one as a leader.
Partners for Youth and Emerald Mountain Epic race organizers are glad for the help, both from leaders like Charlie for managing the mayhem and from the kids for chipping in. “It’s awesome and really helps a lot,” says Partners for Youth operations manager Laurie Keogh. “The kids are amazing. We couldn’t do it without them. It’s an amazing program RMYC has going for youth in the area.”
After the weekend’s event, the Service Learning Crew members will help clean up after race, walking the trails alongside their leaders with trash bags in tow. “They’re a great help and fun as well,” says Emerald Mountain Epic race director Paul Majors. “The whole time they’re just joking around and having fun, working in an assembly line system filling the bottles. They did a great job.”
But all good things come to an end. This is the last Service Learning Crew session of the year, with Charlie, Madelyn, and the other SLC crew leaders working 11 weeks straight so far. After today, the kids will head to Yampa Street to help design and paint sidewalk and storm drain murals as part of partner nonprofit Yampatika’s River Health Mural Painting project. Next week, it’s off for two nights of camping at the Mount Elim Bible Camp on Lynx Pass.
“Is there going to be water there?” one kid asks, splashing water into his bottle.
“We’ll be able to swim in Stagecoach Lake,” answers Charlie.
“Yay!” comes the reply. “Hey, you’re splashing me!”
Meet SLC Leader:
Charlie Rosemonde
This is Charlie's sixth consecutive season with RMYC, and their first as a crew leader. He started as a member of Community Youth Crews (CYC) and Regional Youth Crews (RYC), later becoming an assistant crew lead on both SLC and CYC crews.
The sense of community is what Charlie loves most about RMYC. The relationships formed within crews and among coworkers make the experience incredibly rewarding. Plus, the outdoor work keeps him active and connected to nature.
Charlie says that RMYC has taught him a lot about leadership and working effectively with others. These skills have been invaluable not only in his other jobs but also in college. It also helped him realize, from a young age, that they could take on and accomplish challenging tasks.
Charlie enjoys working with kids and the unique dynamics of each SLC crew. It's exciting to see how different groups come together to complete service projects, and the teamwork involved makes every experience rewarding.
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SLC is consistently a positive experience for kids. As the introduction program to RMYC, Charlie and the team ensure that it's welcoming and fun, leading many kids to return the following season.
Currently in their junior year at Southern Utah University, where he is majoring in Geospatial Sciences with a focus on GIS. He also works as a ski patroller at Brian Head Resort and as a GIS tech at their university, combining his passion for the outdoors and technology. Charlie plans to attend graduate school at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and pursue a degree in Earth and Space Sciences after graduation.