YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK -- Liliana Zapata is a 16-year-old junior at Dos Palos High. She is also a river, in the metaphorical sense.

And not just any river. Zapata is the Merced. The river that flows through Yosemite Valley inspired these words to flow through her:

I am the Merced River
Easy going and courageous
Always looking forward
Never looking back
Pushing myself to my potential
Flowing gracefully to my next journey ...

Zapata wrote this poem while participating in Adventure Risk Challenge, an innovative immersion program that combines literacy, leadership skills and the outdoors.

For 40 rigorous days, Zapata and her 11 high school-aged ARC classmates (who dubbed themselves the "Hardcore Mosquitoes") faced and overcame challenges that must've seemed as daunting as El Capitan.

None had ever been camping. Yet as soon as they arrived here, they embarked on an eight-day, seven-night backpacking trip that culminated in an ascent of Cloud's Rest. From three instructors, they learned how to use a map and compass. How to perform basic first aid. How to set up a campsite. How to leave no trace of their passing.

All come from families where Spanish or another foreign language is spoken at home. Yet they're subjected to rigorous academic instruction in English that includes grammar lessons, group reading and journaling. They must interview a stranger, write a poem and recite it in public, and produce a thoughtful "transformative essay" about their experience.

Along the way, they're introduced to nature in a spectacular setting, along with the concept of conservation. They go kayaking on Bass Lake, rock climbing on Fresno Dome and leaping off telephone poles on a supervised ropes course. Perhaps most daunting, there's the 24 hours that each participant spends in the forest alone.

"The whole experience just opened up my mind," said 17-year-old Jenny Hernandez of Dos Palos. "If I can go backpacking and jump off a 25-foot telephone pole, why can't I do anything else I put my mind to?"

That's what 2009 ARC graduate Ricardo Amancio discovered. The 18-year-old from Dos Palos is an incoming freshman at California State University, Stanislaus, and he'll be going with a handful of college credits thanks to advanced-placement courses he completed as a high school senior.

"Until ARC, I didn't think I was a smart kid. There's no way I would've signed up for those classes," Amancio said. "Before I'd always put myself down. ARC pushed me out there."

Amancio talked on a typically gorgeous evening in late July while standing near the lighted stage of the Lower Pines campfire circle in Yosemite Valley. Soon, ARC students will be reciting their poems. Among them is Amancio's 15-year-old cousin, Charly Mijares. Amancio and other ARC graduates have returned to offer support.

There are only about 50 people in the audience, including Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher. To these nervous kids, it might as well be 5,000.

"There's a lot of resistance to writing a poem," said Alyssa Martin, ARC's English instructor. "They say they don't know how or don't know enough words in English. Then the idea of reading it in public is beyond comprehension."

After some opening remarks by ARC director Jennifer Gurecki, each student heads to the stage. The poems, thick with metaphorical imagery, touch on themes as varied as their authors.

Some express the surge of confidence that comes from accomplishing something beyond your assumed limits. Some harken to former lives in Mexico or China, family separations and parental sacrifices. Others depict being victims of racism or the simple hardships of farm labor.