which has a GoFundMe campaign called Paddling for a Purpose: The Mississippi 1000<\/a>, on June 19, during his summer break.\u00a0<\/p>\nIt\u2019s his first time raising money for a cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning, I would say there was at least a month where I didn\u2019t really hear much,\u201d he said. \u201cI sent it out to close friends and family and everybody was really supportive. But I didn\u2019t know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
He launched the campaign with a goal of raising $20,000.<\/p>\n
So far, he\u2019s up to $14,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gone gangbusters,\u201d Sassaman said.<\/p>\n
Through Prairie Seeds, the funds will sponsor students taking outdoor education field trips and longer journeys into the Boundary Waters.<\/p>\n
![\"Tyler](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/prairie-seeds-canoe-guyb-roll-bk-20260604-still.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Tyler Sassaman carries a canoe. He\u2019s embarking on a 1,000 mile canoe trip down the Mississippi River to raise funds for students.<\/p>\n
Sassaman got his start canoeing during a \u201clife-changing\u201d period in Boundary Waters Canoe Area with Outward Bound, where he became an instructor.<\/p>\n
He wants to bring that rugged outdoor experience to his students.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of the challenge of the wilderness, it\u2019s pretty new for a lot of kids,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so an overnight in the wilderness, it\u2019s got a little bit of scary, it\u2019s got a little bit of cool. It\u2019s a mix of those things, so it\u2019s pretty new.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sassaman also wants to help students process the challenges that came with the Operation Metro Surge immigration crackdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said it was a tough period for many of his students. The restorative aspects of nature could offer students a chance to recharge, said Sassaman.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, I would like to offer the opportunity for reflection, for some emotional healing, connection to their peers,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, in a wilderness setting, you\u2019re laughing, you\u2019ve got challenge and these sorts of things. So I think the key word would be, kind of \u2018healing.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooklyn Park<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2:51 PM | Thursday, June 4, 2026 A Brooklyn Park teacher is going the extra mile for his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-255645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}