From learning to build campfires and ride horses to conducting community service projects, children learn to unlock their inner leader through hands-on activities conducted year-round by the Kellogg PEAK Initiative.
PEAK, which has its offices in Milwaukee’s Tiefenthaler Park, has six major program areas, held in various locations: day camps, resident camps, teen programs, community programs, school-based programs, and expeditions.
The PEAK Initiative was founded as Lake Valley Camp in 2002, an overnight camp in Boscobel serving high-potential youth from under-resourced Milwaukee neighborhoods. The operation has evolved since then to include a holistic experience through its programming.
Today, programming is year-round and close to home, with participants entering PEAK at age 7 and able to stay in the program until graduating from high school. The organization changed its name in 2019 to The Kellogg PEAK Initiative to reflect its year-round approach, although Lake Valley Camp continues as the overnight camp.
PEAK partners with Milwaukee-area schools and serves hundreds of students through summer camp, after-school, school day and weekend programming. In most cases, PEAK fundraising covers all costs for students. In turn, the students commit to staying engaged with PEAK and giving back to their community.
Starms 5th-, 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade students attend PEAK leadership labs on Thursdays from 9:30-11:30 a.m. — 5th grade once a month, grades 6, 7, and 8 twice a month.
At PEAK, leadership is defined as understanding, developing and using your power to be a positive influence. A child’s natural leadership potential is sparked through experiences and relationships. Children are given hands-on projects to build leadership skills, through communication, collaboration and self-awareness.
PEAK operates on its Four Beliefs, which serve as the foundation for all their programming and philosophy of working with youths:
- Every living being has inherent value
- The community is better when everyone contributes
- Everyone has the power to change their world
- We can only grow when we are honest about our mistakes
Much of what PEAK does centers on social emotional learning, the interpersonal skills children need to succeed in school and in life. Children work in small groups to build connections and relationships.
Through PEAK, young people experience different cultures through field trips and visitors. Students come to see assets in themselves and in those around them.