Kyle Burnette & Shep Roeper: Adventures Sharing Strength and Confidence

One son loves water. Rafting and kayaking bring him joy. Another gets a thrill from rock climbing. While a third son simply enjoys outdoor adventures.

The parents of these boys – all three are on the autism spectrum – have found a place close to home offering programs for their sons to find their bliss through experiences in nature.

It’s called Beyond Boundaries, a not-for-profit organization that exposes individuals of all abilities and backgrounds to a plethora of challenging and exhilarating outdoor opportunities.

“We primarily work with four different populations,” said Shep Roeper ’08, who, along with fellow Radford alumnus Kyle Burnette ’08, founded Beyond Boundaries in 2015. “We work with people with disabilities – kids and adults – and we also work with underserved youth groups, people in substance abuse recovery and veterans.”

Based in Richmond, Virginia, and expanding to Roanoke, the organization, founded by two Radford University alumni, runs on the belief that firsthand, all-inclusive adventures can produce remarkable benefits and build stronger communities.

Much of that strength comes from the incredible boost in confidence program participants gain.

“I’ve seen it happen for several individuals and families,” Roeper said.

Beyond Boundaries has a “two-sided mission,” Roeper explained from his Richmond office. “Half of what we do, and why we do it, is getting people experiences they’ve never had before.”

Those could be hiking, rock climbing, boating, fishing, kayaking or white-water rafting. Beyond Boundaries offers them all and more.

“We will take someone who normally doesn’t spend much time out of their wheelchair and put them 40 feet in the air or put them on a raft through Class-3 rapids. They’re getting soaking wet, but they’re having nothing but thrills,” Roeper said, explaining the breathtaking rushes that participants experience. “They are having experiences outside of how they normally live, and that is pretty incredible to be a part of.”

The other side of the Beyond Boundaries mission “is equally important to us,” Roeper said, “it’s about creating an inclusive space where we get volunteers and community partners to help with the programs, allowing everyone time to socialize, bond and connect over a really fun activity, learn more about each other and learn how similar all of us really are.”

In 2024, Roeper said Beyond Boundaries will offer more than 250 programs and will serve more than 2,000 individual participants. About 300 will be repeat participants, meaning people find the organization’s programs rewarding, challenging and fun enough to keep coming back for more.

The idea to create an organization like Beyond Boundaries came to Roeper and Burnette while they were Radford students, and soon after they both completed internships with Environmental Traveling Companions, an outdoor accessibility organization based in San Francisco, California. After earning their degrees in Outdoor Recreation and Leadership at Radford, the two moved back to the Richmond area, looking for a similar group to volunteer with near their hometown.

“After doing research, we realized no such organization existed in the area,” Roeper recalled. “So, we said, ‘Let’s start something.’”

Using the skills they learned at Radford University, the duo did just that.

The journey thus far has been “incredibly rewarding,” said Roeper, who still has his hands in the day-to-day operations as executive director, everything from running programs to fundraising. Burnette serves Beyond Boundaries through community events as a member of the organization’s board.

Those opportunities Roeper and Burnette have now begun with the education, experiences and inspirations they found once they enrolled at Radford.

“We could have ended up at any college,” Roeper said. “But we ended up together at a college that had phenomenal teachers and a phenomenal program that really pushed us.

“And because of a few years at Radford University, we were given the knowledge and tools to create a great foundation for something that we are proud of because it has affected our community in a positive way,” he continued. “If it wasn’t for our time at Radford – and Kyle would say the same thing – this amazing organization, Beyond Boundaries, would not exist.”