Please visit the Expeditions page for the dates of each expedition, Expedition dates will be confirmed in mid-late winter.

*Inspiring Girls* Expeditions Alaska is open to all. We welcome youth of all races, ethnicities, heritages, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, faiths, ability levels, economic statuses, and geographic origin.
Please review our Essential Eligibility Criteria, which details the minimum requirements to participate in our programs.

Our programs are open to U.S. residents. First priority is given to residents from Alaska for all programs, followed by residents of Gulf of Mexico states for our Girls* on Water program.

Applicants who have been on any expedition are ineligible to participate again on expeditions at any branch. Our unique curriculum means our expedition teams must remain small to make an impact. Therefore, once a participant completes a single program, we must make our expeditions accessible for others to enjoy.

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, our expeditions are completely tuition-free! We cover tuition, food, and lodging for the duration of your expedition, and we provide all needed outdoor clothing and equipment. We do ask our participants to contribute as much as they are able to the cost of travel between their homes and the expedition's starting location, as a way to demonstrate commitment. If you and your family are unable to pay for your travel, we will work with you to develop strategies you can use in your home community to fundraise a portion of the travel cost, and we will provide a travel scholarship for the remaining portion to any participant who requests one.

Applications will open in early January and close in early March. All application materials, including at least one recommendation form, must be submitted by that date.

Our application process asks applicants to reflect on their sense of self, abilities, interests, and curiosities. Sections include basic information, about you, and short answer questions, all of which must be completed to submit your application including one recommendation form.

Once you’ve submitted your application, you can sit back and relax! Our team of program staff and reviewers will read your application, and we’ll let you know if you’ve been accepted in April.

When filling out our online application, you will have the choice to pay an optional application fee. We suggest $25 USD per application. The revenue we collect from optional application fees helps us run our expeditions tuition-free each year. Please note that whether and/or how much each applicant pays has no impact on how we review and select our final teams. In other words, we will review applications equally regardless of payment.

Yes, we do! The application for Inspiring Girls* Expeditions Alaska is internet-based; however, we have a paper version of the application available upon request to anyone who does not have easy access to the internet. This paper application is only available for Inspiring Girls* Expeditions Alaska programs and cannot be used for any other expeditions provided by our sister branches (e.g., Inspiring Girls* Expeditions PNW). We can mail a paper application with enclosed paid return envelope to an address of your choice, or can provide a PDF digital copy you can print out and mail yourself.

One recommendation form must be completed before you can submit an application but up to two forms can be completed in total. We would like recommendation forms from someone who plays a strong "teacher" role in your life. This could be a teacher, work supervisor, athletic coach, leader of a group you are involved in, or a Elder. You should communicate with your recommender(s) early and often!

Congratulations! If you are selected for an expedition, you will receive a Welcome Packet via email that will provide everything you need to know about enrollment paperwork, packing for your expedition, arranging your travel, and other details. You will be invited to attend a virtual Family Orientation Night in the spring, where you will have the opportunity to meet your instructors and other participants on your team and learn more about what to expect for your expedition.

If you are selected as an alternate, we will contact you if a spot becomes available on an expedition team. A spot could become available at any point between mid April and the start of the expedition, and we usually end up selecting at least one alternate for each of our teams. We do not rank our alternates, so you are just as likely as any other alternate to be selected for an open spot. Please contact us if you do not wish to be an alternate for an expedition.

When an applicant initiates a recommendation request on our application website, you will receive an email with a link and a QR code that direct you to the recommender form and additional instructions.

If you run into errors during this process, please ask the applicant to resend the request (make sure to check your "spam", "junk", or "other" folders if nothing appears in your inbox). If this does not fix the problem please try creating an account (instructions below) and then proceed to fill out the recommendation form. If you still experience problems after these steps, please contact the application system - SurveyMonkey Apply - support team.

How to make an account in SurveyMonkey Apply (if the link/ QR code does not work):

1) Go to https://apply.inspiringgirls.org/

2) In the top right corner, press the green "Register" button

3) Fill out the required information using the same email address to which the applicant sent the request. If you create an account with a different email, you won't be able to see the recommendation form.

4) You should now be able to see the recommender form in your account. If not, please contact the application system - SurveyMonkey Apply - support team.

You can read thoughts and stories from our expedition participant testimonials.

Check out our available positions on our Work With Us page!