RedCliff Ascent - How it all began

29 July, 2009

Dear RedCliff Ascent,

Ever since I was a teenager I've wanted to work for a wilderness company. My interest deepened further when I saw the love and reverance that my Scout Master, Patrick Farneman, had for his own experience with your program some years ago. He introduced me to primitive skills and showed me how to live with only the basics. Truly - the more knowledge on has the less he needs. If invited to join your staff I know that I will have a positive impact on both the lives of the students I'll be serving and the other staff I'll be working alongside with...


Back in March I filled out the online application for RedCliff Ascent (RCA). I followed all the instructions and submitted my best work. As I understood it, they would look over it and get back to me to tell me they weren't interested or to request more information. I waited a few weeks and sent a follow up email to make sure they had received my application. Still nothing. Finally when I got home from school over the summer break I decided I ought to call the office and see what was going on. I talked to Darcy, the recruiting officer, about my situation and what I was to expect next. His reply was that they were swamped with applications and it appeared that I was still missing some paperwork. He told me to send in a packet of information, including a cover letter, resume and three letters of recommendation. I was thankful for my high school portfolio that had a few of those in there. I picked two of the best letters, had them updated, and sent them off with another letter from Patrick Farneman himself. Darcy then redirected me to the website to answer any questions that I might still have. When everything was received in the RCA office about a week letter, I received an email informing me that my application had been moved to 'active status' and that I was now on a rather lengthy waiting list. They would get back to me when things changed.

Several months later when I was trying to sort out my upcoming break from school, my thoughts returned to RCA and the odds of me ever getting in... I Facebook chatted a bit with Phil Montour, a friend from school, that was working for Anasazi down in Arizona. I explained a little bit about my situation and my fleeting hopes. He encouraged me to apply to Anasazi and gave me telephone and website information. Phil said that they had to at least replace him because his offtrack was ending and he would be returning to school.

My excited was returning as I thought through the possibilities. The only setback would be the driving distance back and forth to Jacob Lake - about 7 hours each way. I decided it was too far to commute each week. I instead looked into WinGate located in Kanab, Ut - just 30 minutes away from Jacob Lake. I did some internet research and began filling out their application. A few minutes into it I had the feeling that I should check back into RedCliff once more. I thought about it half a day and sent Pat Farneman a text. Not expecting it, he immediatly called me back. He had no idea I was still in class! I had to ignore it and call him back afterwards. I first apologized for being rude and sending him to voicemail and then told him everything that was going through my head. He recommended I call the RCA office back and ask for Scott Schill, AKA Medicine Bull, one of his old friends and now Field Director of the program.

When I called the office Darcy was rather confused that anyone would ask for Scott Schill. He explained that he was four hours away and unavailable. I think it perked his interest and he asked me to explain what was going on. I told him my story about how I had applied several months ago, sent in the requested paperwork, been put on 'active status,' and forgotten about yet again. He pulled up my file, started looking around a bit, asking different random questions followed by a 'hmm' or an 'ahhh.' Apparently when I initially applied back in March, I had only offered 4 months of availability. RCA requires 6 months for all new employees. After realizing this a few months later, I emailed them offering to defer a semester of school and commit 8 months. I guess that email slipped through the cracks, preventing myself from ever being a possibility for hire. Finally, he told me, "Ya know it's a miracle that you call right now, because we just had an opening in our January training session. We had one guy drop out, this is really going to help me out." Alleluia!! I stood up out of my seat and started pacing the Crossroads. Darcy took a few more pieces of information from me and explained a little bit about what to expect. He emailed me a packet to be filled out and brought along. I was to show up in Enterprise, UT Jan 7th to train for 9 days. Though attending the training isn't a guarantee of employment, it seems that Darcy was suggesting that I had a pretty good chance. I guess they do most of their selection/filtering of applicants with applications and letters of recommendation.

I called Farneman back and told him what had happened. He congratulated me and offered a few bits of advice.

Awesome.