Yellowstone English/Environmental Studies Program International (YESPI) is a private American education company based in Southwest Montana in the center of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE).  It was incorporated in 2013 by the State of Montana.

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YESPI designs and delivers education programs for American and international students who are intent on gaining admission to America’s top tier universities.  To do so, they need to stand out and show how they are different from the other applicants.   YESPI provides a series of university-accredited education programs that helps make this happen. For all these programs, the GYE, an area of land the same size as the US state of Maine, the country of Austria, and Zhe Jiang Province in China, is the outdoor classroom and laboratory.

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The founders of YESPI believe that through education the world can be changed for the better. YESPI’s mission is to produce education programs that give its students the tools they need to get accepted into and succeed at American universities. The programs mix the experiential learning opportunities of the Yellowstone with the recreational opportunities of the Yellowstone.  For many students, the end result will be life-changing experiences. They learn something new and potentially do something for the first time in their lives (e.g. white water rafting, fly fishing, horseback riding, back country camping, observing wildlife up close, touring Yellowstone Park, etc…).  YESPI will bring the world to the Yellowstone and give its students the tools to return home or to take their next step in education and succeed. 

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Since its first year of full operations in 2014, YESPI has hosted six education programs and two internship programs.  In 2016, it obtained university accreditation.  Each student who completes a YESPI summer or winter program can earn two or three American university credits.  These credits can then be transferred to any American university to which they enroll in the future.  These credits will count towards their graduation.

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The key product of the summer and winter programs is the Independent Study Project or ISP.  The ISP is a research project that each student is expected to complete.  It involves 15 hours of classroom instruction combined with 45 or 90 hours of field research.  Students must develop their own hypothesis on a key topic impacting the Yellowstone.  Though students are free to choose their own topic, YESPI encourages selection of topics involving Yellowstone wildlife, the role of fire in the ecosystem, Yellowstone’s geology, and tourism issues impacting the Yellowstone.  Upon defining their hypothesis, the students must conduct the necessary field work to prove/disprove their hypothesis.  On the second to last day of the program, they must defend their research findings to a full committee.   This ISP is the product that earns the students the American university credits.

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YESPI welcomes collaboration with international schools and universities around the world.  It is ready to be the ‘American Partner’ for schools that want to develop their own summer/winter camps in America.   We are ready to work with you.

YESPI has offices in Shanghai China, Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, and Ennis, Montana in the USA.

 

For more information, please contact the founder Sam Korsmoe by email at sam@yespi.net