Snowshoeing with Congolese Integration Netwrk M.U.S.T.
Something About Snow
The Nature Project x Congolese Integration Network x YMCA B.O.L.D. & G.O.L.D.
There is something that happens when someone experiences snow for the first time. Not just sees it, but walks out into it, picks it up, throws it, falls in it. You can't manufacture that. You can only make space for it.
On February 28, 2026, The Nature Project brought teens from the Congolese Integration Network and YMCA B.O.L.D. & G.O.L.D. out into the snow for a day of learning, exploring, and a lot of laughter. For many of the teens, it was their first time. By the end of the day you would not have known it.
Everything the teens needed was there waiting for them. Warm coats, pants, gloves, socks, boots, and snowshoes, all provided so that nothing stood between them and the day ahead. We started the morning learning how to walk in snowshoes, the techniques, the safety, how to move with them and not against them. It did not take long before they made it their own. Races broke out. Games appeared from nowhere. A snowball fight erupted. Different teens stepped up to lead at different moments throughout the day, finding confidence on a trail they had never walked before.
Then someone found the hill. The sledding that followed brought out a kind of joy that is hard to describe and easy to recognize. Peals of laughter all the way down, over and over again. For young people carrying a lot right now, that hill gave something back.
TNP athlete Zjada Baydass, professional soccer player with the Reign, and Bailey White, soccer coach and TNP athlete, shared their stories with the group. They talked openly about what the outdoors has meant to them, how they use nature to step away from the pressure and noise of competition and everyday life, and what it looks like to take care of your mental and physical health. The teens listened and asked good questions. Those conversations mattered.
We stopped for a picnic in the snow. Hot chocolate, sunshine, blue skies, and nobody else around. Just the group, the cold air, and the kind of stillness you forget exists. A real break from everything, and everyone felt it.
We talked about Leave No Trace, about what it means to move through a place with care and leave it exactly as you found it. We talked about sharing multi-use trails with skiers and other visitors, about being respectful and present. These are public lands. They belong to all of us, and that includes these teens. That is something we always want them to walk away knowing.
Before the day ended we gathered for a TNP discussion about why being in nature matters, what it does for our mental and physical health, and what it means to truly disconnect and be present. The teens were honest and reflective. The conversation was real.
Some of them had never seen snow before that morning. By the afternoon they were flying down hills and laughing the whole way down. That is what this work looks like. That is why we do it. Getting teens outside, alongside TNP athletes who show up not just as role models but as real people willing to share their stories, is at the heart of everything we do. That combination, nature and connection and honest conversation, is what makes the difference.
