Hollow Mountain Workshops is Carson City’s newest nonprofit providing academic, skills-based and social-emotional wellness workshops to capital city youth.
Designed with accessibility for working families at its core, Hollow Mountain will launch a five-week pilot program operating weekday evenings and Saturdays at the Brewery Arts Center beginning April 27 and running through the end of May. Workshops offer small group, hands-on learning opportunities for youth ranging from toddlers to teens in a broad array of topics.
Game Design, Apocalypse Survival, Potion Making, Creative Writing, New Car Ownership, Zine and Collage, Small Business Marketing for Kids & Teens, Gardening for Toddlers, Starting Your First Band, Family-Friendly Friday Yoga, and Anatomy for Kids are just a handful of the workshops scheduled during the pilot.
The program was created by a group of educators, mental health professionals and parents wanting to understand – and fix – the foundational causes behind declining academic performance, rising isolation, screen addictions, and a lack of community connection among young people.
“Hollow Mountain isn’t just about building up individual children academically; it’s about building a supportive and connected community that values curiosity and learning outside traditional classrooms,” said Hollow Mountain Founder Kelsey Penrose, a Western Nevada College English Professor.
Drawing on her background in anthropology, she began researching the causes of youth apathy and anxiety alongside the significant gaps in foundational education she and her colleagues were seeing in their students. Many of their college freshmen graduated from AP and Honors tracks, she said, yet struggled with the fundamentals of how to learn and succeed in higher academia.
“Learning has to be hands-on, and it has to be social,” she said. “That’s built into the very fabric of humanity. After seeing research showing that kids and teens are increasingly describing their lives as ‘not useful,’ we knew we had to do something — Hollow Mountain is our something.”
Workshops are scheduled weekday evenings and Saturdays to address the largest barrier to accessing extracurricular programming reported by families: most programs are only available while caregivers work traditional 9-5 jobs.
Regular one-hour workshops are priced at $40 per session, with $20 30-minute sessions for ‘Kit Club’ toddlers. Hollow Mountain is also developing a scholarship fund to help ensure access for all families regardless of income, and is actively seeking donations and workshop sponsorships from local businesses and community members interested in supporting the program.
Workshop ticket sales will be live tomorrow, Friday April 10.
To learn more, you can visit hollowmountainworkshops.org or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Disclaimer: Kelsey Penrose is a journalist and co-editor for Carson Now. Carson Now is unaffiliated with Hollow Mountain Workshops.
