Building Resilience Through Green Space: YMCA Excursion with DeSoto High
On October 31st, Peregrine founder JD Weatherspoon led an excursion with the YMCA of Southwest Florida and students from DeSoto High School. The experience was more than a weekend outdoors—it was a living lesson in resilience. For young men navigating the pressures of school, community, and identity, exposure to green spaces is not just recreational; it’s developmental. Nature offers a rare environment where stress dissipates, confidence grows, and the foundations of self-sufficiency take root.
Saturday’s 14.5 mile trek along the waterlogged Monument Trail proved that resilience is not built in classrooms alone. It emerges when young people are challenged to adapt, collaborate, and reflect in settings that demand both physical and emotional presence. Green spaces provide that crucible. They remind us that resilience is as much about connection—to land, to each other, to self—as it is about endurance.
The waterproof footwear from Teva also made a world of difference on that terrain-though the hikers eventually discovered that waterproof only works for water that isn’t higher than the top of your shoes!
Starting at the local level is critical. Communities that invest in accessible, nature-based programming create pathways for youth to thrive and for neighborhoods to become self-sufficient. The YMCA of Southwest Florida and DeSoto High are proving themselves as spearheads of what’s possible: institutions willing to blend education, mentorship, and environmental exposure into holistic development. The site of this excursion made the story that much more impactful, when you consider the location: Monument Lake Campground.
Why does it matter? We’re glad you asked!
On February 22, 1936 at this very site, a conference attended by about 275 Seminoles and several representatives of state and local governments. Florida's New Deal governor, David W. Sholtz (1933-37), had aided the state's economic recovery from the great depression. Accompanied by members of is cabinet and D. Graham Copeland of the Collier County Board of Commissioners, Sholtz journeyed into the Everglades to discuss with Seminole leaders what the government could do to assist the Indians in those trying times. A ceremonial welcome was followed by conversations in which Gotch Nagoftee (Josie Billie) and Tush Kee Henehe (Corey Osceola) spoke for the Seminoles. The Indians appreciated the offer of aid but, fearing removal from the Everglades, gave the Governor this reply: "Pohoan Checkish" - "Just leave us alone". Deep in the heart of not only US National Parkland, but the Miccosukee Tribe native territory as well, the message has been clear for the better part of a century: Its in our best interests to learn to take care of ourselves; communities that are founded on collective sustainability tend to last longer.
Alongside Peregrine, these efforts point toward a future where resilience hubs are not abstract concepts but tangible, community-driven spaces. By grounding young men in nature and equipping them with tools for continuity, we are designing communities that can withstand disruption and flourish in legacy.
Resilience begins here—local, green, and grounded in the next generation.