ENTERPRISE — Pandion Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Enterprise, recently won $10,000 in a national competition designed to showcase youthful entrepreneurs working to create change in their communities.

Pandion, which works with Native educators to run outdoor programs primarily for Native youths in Wallowa County and beyond, sent two representatives to the Ambition Accelerator Summit, held earlier in November in Irvine, California. Clark Shimeall, 23, co-founder and executive director of Pandion, attended the summit with Devin Reuben, 17, who has participated in Pandion’s programs.

Pandion focuses on land-based learning, including cultural and ecological educational programs on topics such as rafting, backpacking and skill-building. The nonprofit works with Native youths who are predominantly Nez Perce and Cayuse descendants.

Shimeall said the institute promotes a crucial system of values to participants who are purposely immersed in Indigenous ways of existing and are empowered to carry these perspectives into their broader lives.

Pandion was among 26 teams from 14 states selected to attend the Ambition Accelerator Summit, sponsored by the Taco Bell Foundation and Ashoka, a global network of social entrepreneurs. During the summit, teams had the opportunity to expand their knowledge about everything from budgeting to social media. Each team received a total of $1,500 in seed funding for their social venture and finalists were invited to a competition for a chance to pitch their idea to secure the top award of $25,000.

“The teams all had a project that had some sort of social impact to it,” Shimeall said. “We were in the top five teams and we got to pitch Pandion to a big crowd and compete for more money.”

The winning pitch came from the Onyx Incubator, a program in Cook County, Illinois, that works with youths who have experienced incarceration. But Shimeall and Reuben came in a close second place, earning $10,000. The winnings will go toward Pandion’s guide-training program, with the goal of placing and supervising more Native youth in internships with outdoor recreation outfitters in the region.

“It was really life-changing to see that our little nonprofit could go that far, and really eye-opening as well,” Reuben said. ”It was a really big event and it is a big part of who we are as people.”

Shimeall and Reuben have been rafting together with Winding Waters River Expeditions, an outfitter partner company based out of Joseph. With the assistance of Shimeall, Reuben spent last summer working toward getting a river rafting guide license. If all goes according to plan, he hopes to acquire the license next summer.

“I am hopefully going to become the first Nez Perce river guide of my generation,” Reuben said, “which is pretty big for my culture, because it’s getting out there on the land and rediscovering who you used to be.”

Visitors who participate in the activities with Pandion guides will experience not only what Wallowa County has to offer, but also the rich history of the guide’s Native heritage — 80% of the Pandion board is Native.

“We’re on Nez Perce homelands, Wallowa County, this whole big area, and for them to have access to that land and really tell their story to the people who come to this place, is very special,” Shimeall said.

For more information on Pandion Institute’s mission and programs visit www.pandioninstitute.org.