Gray Bauer

Attendees of Operation Snowball celebrate cooperation in the 2025 spring Field trip.

For decades, Operation Snowball has provided Illinois teens with more than just a weekend getaway; it offers a chance to reflect, connect, and lead. Founded in 1977 through the collaboration of Rockford-area youth and adults who had attended the Illinois Teenage Institute on Substance Abuse, the program was designed to promote leadership and prevention education through peer influence. 

As its founders wrote, “If I have a positive impact on you, you can have a positive impact on someone else—and the effect snowballs.” 

Operation Snowball, Inc. now supports chapters across Illinois, all built on the same foundation: youth-led, adult-supported initiatives that encourage healthy, substance-free lifestyles and emotional well-being. The organization’s mission, according to Operation Snowball’s website, is to “empower youth to lead drug-free lives and build positive communities.”

Each retreat, held in a rented YMCA-style camp surrounded by nature, balances structure and creativity. Students travel by district-arranged buses to spend the weekend participating in small-group workshops, reflection sessions, and activities focused on mindfulness and self-care. The environment is intentionally separating you from routine to give a space for reflection and growth. 

While adult advisors manage logistics such as securing locations and transportation, most of the program is led and designed by students. After attending their first Snowball event, participants can interview to join the teen staff, and later apply to become team directors, who guide the entire weekend’s planning. 

“The teen directors decide the theme, workshops, and even details like the dance playlist or a large group craft,” Parli said.

Metea Valley’s Snowball program, part of the local 360 Youth Services chapter, holds two retreats each school year, one in the fall and another in the spring. The local Snowball chapter follows the state organization’s long-standing goal of prevention through empowerment. Records from 360 Youth Services note that the first Snowball in 1977 quickly “picked up seed—like a snowball rolling downhill.” By 1987, Operation Snowball had become an incorporated nonprofit with accredited chapters statewide. 

Now, nearly 50 years later, the program continues to grow through the energy of students like Parli. Each retreat carries forward that founding philosophy: when one person chooses to lead with kindness and self-awareness, others will follow, and the effect, still, snowballs.