Five years ago, senior Jackson Ehlen discovered his interest in rock climbing. 

A year later, he became a member of Post 58, the largest youth-led outdoor recreation program in the country. The program — derived from Scouting America — is split into two chapters, each with around 100 members. Chapter two has only existed for eight years, while chapter one has been around since 1993.

Now, he is the eighth president of chapter two. 

It started with “learning more leadership, learning more ins and outs of the organization,” he said.

While in middle school at The Marylhurst School, his English teacher knew the director of Post 58, and recommended it for him. “I loved it, kind of stayed, and that spring, I was recruited to the steering committee,” he said. 

Ehlen was recruited to the committee — the student-led leadership team consisting of 20 to 30 students — as an associate when he was a freshman. As a sophomore, he was elected to an education coordinator and fundraising manager position. 

Giving up baseball to pursue the role, Ehlen became vice president as a junior. 

The steering committee works hand in hand with the board, a group of advisers who support the nonprofit, making sure the organization is running smoothly and handling crisis management.

“We’ve never had an accident, but obviously they’re inherently dangerous,” Ehlen said. 

The treacherous experiences Ehlen refers to are the countless outdoor activities the program revolves around. He helps coordinate and plan each excursion, with around 120 trips coming up this summer. 

“Mountaineering, backpacking, climbing, sailing, biking, fishing, rafting, cross country skiing, snowshoeing,” he said. “We do a lot of that; it’s kind of what the trips are based around.”

One of the most memorable trips he has participated in was a trip to Canada where they were helicoptered in, set up camp, and prepared for over a week of mountaineering. 

“It was amazing,” he said. “We got eight peaks in 10 days.”

Ehlen has been on every type of trip excluding rafting; however, his favorite trip he has been on was when he spent five days in the North Cascades. He highlighted that since it was a longer trip, they were able to bring better food. He also mentioned that the weather conditions made it great, with no rain or snow. 

Not only did Post 58 spark opportunities for outdoor trips, but it also allowed him to pursue his interest in outdoor rock climbing specifically. He said that he started outdoor rock climbing with a mindset of “hey, why not?”

At the beginning of this school year, Ehlen went to the rock gym with his friends once a week before becoming busy with other responsibilities. 

His favorite indoor location is Portland Rock Gym Northeast, or their newest location, which opened in Beaverton. 

He mentioned that they change their rock wall routes frequently, and “I feel like every time I’m trying something different,” he said. 

Although Ehlen goes climbing indoors as frequently as possible, he prefers outdoor climbing.

“It’s more of you have to find your own way to do it,” he said. “There’s a lot of trial and error versus indoor climbing, where you can see the route, [and] it’s color graded.”

Ehlen’s favorite site to climb outdoors is Smith Rock. “I did a little bit of bouldering in Wisconsin on Lake Superior, but nothing compares to Smith Rock,” he said.

He said that calling Smith Rock just a rock doesn’t do it justice.

“It’s a solid piece of granite rock that is just so fun to climb,” he said. “And whether it’s in the cold or it’s warm, you can really find so many spots.”

Specifically, Ehlen prefers doing top rope, a specific method when an individual is connected to a ceiling or a high point with another person connected to them with a grigri or a safety device. The person below is performing belaying, as they feed more rope and make sure the climber is watched and able to be caught if they fall. 

Although he likes top rope, he also wants to learn how to lead — setting the rope at specific points through the climb — as well as spend more time bouldering. 

Ehlen also enjoys mountaineering, which is similar to rock climbing. He explained that the main difference between the two is snow and altitude. When climbing a mountain, he sets anchors in order to make his own route. In addition, the snow requires special gear such as crampons, which are spikes on mountaineering boots used for extra support.

“There’s certain foot techniques you need to use to dig into the snow or actually get traction or be safer,” he said. 

Moving into senior year, he asked himself the questions, “what else can I do, and am I prepared for being president?”

Now, Ehlen balances his school and social life with hybrid office work. He works 4 days a week from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. after school in downtown Portland helping coordinate trips. Additionally, he runs the leadership team with the help of vice president Autumn Blake, who is a junior at Saint Mary’s, and acts as a voice to the student board. 

“I am required to recruit,” he said. “I can fire people, I can reorganize, and just generally make the steering committee the best it can be, because that reflects on how the chapter does.”

However, Ehlen said that he has found having someone to bounce ideas off of very beneficial. He said that senior Lucca Nasello — president of chapter one who goes to Valley Catholic High School — has been helpful as someone to turn to about issues and has benefitted his experience. 

“It’s kind of a unique position,” he said. “Not a lot of people have done it — [there’s] not really a rule book or a guideline or a quick Google search for some of the problems.”

Ehlen has now brought his passion and growing knowledge of climbing and the outdoors to La Salle. 

Alongside junior Calvin Yalon, Ehlen created a rock climbing club for the first time this school year. Hoping to act as a mentor, Ehlen has supported Yalon in creating the club, promoting it and running meetings. 

During the school’s club fair, they had a table filled with gear and harnesses to incentivize interest from students. Yalon also brought an ice axe that Ehlen said specifically sparked attention. 

“We brought a lot of photos, and a lot of gear too,” he said. “I think that really got people interested,” he said. “I brought a lot of photos of me rock climbing, and we brought grigris and carabiners and harnesses and all that good stuff, chalk bags.”

Ehlen said that they had around 200 sign ups after the event and have been meeting in order to plan for their first trip. 

“I’d just highlight how much fun it is,” he said. “You really get to know these people in post, in the chapter, because you bond with them on trips, and these trips are really, really fun activities.”

Correction: March 19, 2026

A previous version of this article misspelled junior Charlie Bourne’s last name in the photo caption.