08/12/2026
Last up in our Baker Scholars Summer Spotlight series is Griffin!
This summer, Griffin is serving as a Wilderness Instructor with Coldwater Foundation in Grand Marais, Minnesota, an outdoor ministry focused on helping young people grow in faith, leadership, confidence, and maturity through challenging wilderness experiences.
Griffin kicked off the summer with a 20-day backpacking and canoeing expedition in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, followed by a month of certifications and leadership training within Coldwater’s experiential learning model. Since then, he has planned and led multi-day canoeing and backpacking trips for groups of middle and high school students, creating experiences designed to challenge them, build confidence, and encourage personal and spiritual growth.
Through this role, Griffin has gained firsthand experience adapting his leadership style to different people and situations while also growing in his own confidence, resilience, and ability to step into the unknown.
He shared that God has been especially evident to him this summer through creation, the people around him, and the challenges he has been pushed to overcome.
We’re excited to see Griffin putting leadership into practice in such a meaningful way and continuing to grow through an experience rooted in faith, service, and adventure!
