Viento y Agua

Wylde Wind & Water hosts three weeks of summer camp with the Hood River County School District Migrant Education Program. The Migrant Education Program is offered for families who move frequently to work in agriculture and fishing. The goal of their program is to help migrant students overcome problems that result from repeated moves and interrupted education.

Our goal is to make the water more accessible and teach kids of all backgrounds and life experiences the necessary skills to be safe around the water, allowing kids to recreate safely and share their knowledge with friends and families.

Wylde Wind & Water works with the Hood River County School District to provide three weeks of exciting water sports and water safety based programs taught in Spanish. In the first two years of the summer program, one hundred and thirteen (113) students from age 8-14 participated in addition to eighteen (18) high school students who worked the camp in a paid-internship position. During this camp participants learn about water safety on the Columbia River, stand up paddling, canoeing, kayaking, learn about the water ecology of the Hood River area, visit the Hood River History Museum, and create water-safety related art projects. This camp is taught in both Spanish and English. The HR County School District Migrant Education program provides transportation for the students. Every participant of Viento y Agua leaves the camp at the end of the week with a newly formed wealth of knowledge along with their own personal life jacket, re-useable water bottle and Viento y Agua T-shirt.

In 2024, Wylde Wind & Water will be hosting the Viento y Agua program for the third (3rd) year. The camp will consist of three weeks of 4-day water safety education from July 29-August 15, 2024. Camp is from 9am-2pm at Wylde Wind & Water and the interns work from 8am-3pm. All of our water activities take place in the protected area of Nichols Boat Basin in Hood River, Oregon.

Viento y Agua Internship Program

We created an innovative program to revitalize the concept of paid apprenticeship. Each year we hire 12 high school students from the Hood River Migrant Education program. These students are participants of the Viento y Agua program and are leaders for the younger students of the program. During the three week program, interns learn about team-work, the water sports industry, how to facilitate and support people in the water, how to properly use SUP, Kayak, Canoe, and lifejacket equipment, listen to daily presentations from prominent individuals around the community about job opportunities, and most of all, become mentors for the younger generation. Interns work the Viento y Agua program from 8am - 3pm from Monday to Thursday, giving the interns one hour in the morning to prepare the equipment prior to the arrival of the campers and one hour in the afternoon after campers leave to clean up and listen to the job presentation of the day. Each intern will work a total of 84 paid hours during this program.

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There is no registration fee for the students. Wylde Wind & Water and HRCSD Migrant Education funds the Viento y Agua Program through grants and donations.