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NOLS, Where the Outdoor Semester was Born
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A student takes notes during her downtime at climbing camp.
Photo: David Anderson |
In 1974, NOLS invented the outdoor semester. Now
each year eight hundred students spend a semester
at NOLS learning new skills, exploring
new ideas, and making new friends while surrounded
by wilderness. These eight hundred students,
more than all other outdoor semester programs
combined, benefit from NOLS 40 years of curriculum
development and innovation.
Learn a Variety of Skills
All NOLS semesters are broken into a series
of expeditions, called sections. These sections
run from two weeks to a month in length and cover
a wide variety of outdoor skill areas. They are
as varied as your desire to learn. This variety
means that students leave their NOLS Gap Year
Semester with a series of valuable outdoor skills
and experience in a number of different environments.
Focus…on Leadership
At NOLS we teach expedition leadership. Setting
goals, planning, efficiency, teamworkand achievement.
It’s a model that works everywhere, from
the classroom to the boardroom.
Tolerance for adversity, vision and action,
expedition behavior. These are some of the NOLS
skills you’ll master as you become a leader.
More than 75,000 people have learned leadership
at NOLS. The list reads like a who’s who
of successful explorers, conservationists and
business people:
- more than 1/2 of the NASA astronaut corps
- Fred Kleisner, CEO of Wyndham International
- Britton Keeshan, at 22, the youngest person
to achieve the highest summit on every continent
- Candice Carpenter Olsen, founder of iVillage
- Tom Scott, founder of Nantucket Nectars
- Christine Boskoff, one of the top mountaineers
in the world
- Tom Kiernan, President of the National Parks
Conservation Association
- Louisa Willcox, Wild Bears Project Director,
Natural Resources Defense Council
Other programs talk about leadership. At NOLS
you’ll do it!
Environmental Studies Come Alive
On your NOLS semester you will learn about
the ecology of the areas that you are traveling
through while you earn natural history and other
credit from the University of Utah. Your lab
will be the outdoors and the rivers and trails
will be your syllabus.
A NOLS Semester is a Perfect “Time-out”
Most students on NOLS semesters come to NOLS
as a semester away from their college campus,
but we are increasingly seeing young people enrolling
as a ”gap year” between high school
and college. In the past few years NOLS
has experienced a 15% increase in the number
of “gap year” students. Now nearly
20% of our semester students are taking time
off between high school and college.
Two or three months of outdoor living, college
credit and much more. The outdoor semester-uniquely
NOLS!
Gap Year
Semester
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| Duration: |
86 days |
| Tuition: |
$10,600 |
| Ages: |
17-19 Year Olds Only |
College Credit:
(Optional) |
16
Semester Credit Hours
2 Hours Biology
2 Hours Environmental Ethics
4 Hours Leadership Techniques
6 Hours Skills Practicum
2 Hours Risk Assessment |
| Course start/end: |
Lander, WY |
| Equipment Deposit: |
$700 |
| Fly in/out: |
Riverton, WY |
| Dates: |
Sept. 8-Dec. 10, 2008
Section 9: Backpacking, WFA, Climbing, Canyon, Winter (Snowboard) |
Downloads:
Require Adobe Acrobat Reader |
Course Description
(pdf)
Equipment List
(pdf) |
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Next Steps
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Related Courses
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