NOLS recently completed our annual meeting, on a beautiful fall weekend in the Rockies. It was an opportunity to review the recently completed fiscal year and look forward to our future in wilderness and leadership education. I’m pleased to report that last year was an excellent year for NOLS.

We educated a record number of students during the ’04 fiscal year, crossing the 10,000 milestone for the first time. Students were very pleased with the lessons they learned in leadership, wilderness skills, wilderness medicine, conservation and expedition behavior. We set a record for fundraising support at NOLS, which helped bring the renovation of the Noble Hotel closer on our horizon and also provided the support to continue our scholarship program. We explored new classrooms and developed new course curriculum.

Key to our successful year was the work and support of our alumni. As you know, we count on you to spread word of NOLS and our educational opportunities. You were also instrumental in raising record support for our annual fund and providing ideas that will insure our position as the leader in wilderness education.

I’m excited in this edition of the Leader to welcome and recognize our new Alumni Relations Manager, Rich Brame. Many of you will already recognize that name, as Rich has previously served as the Director of NOLS Yukon, LNT Director and past president of the NOLS Instructors Association. Rich also has worked a wide variety of courses over a couple of decades. He will be a great asset to NOLS in his new role, as he has been in his first 20 years at the school!