A Family for NOLS

A Family for NOLS

This past July, NOLS experienced the rarity of having nearly an entire family embarking on NOLS courses simultaneously. Over five weeks, Dr. Nancy Sutera and three of her four children, Justin, Peter and Joy, all completed NOLS courses out of the Rocky Mountain Branch. The Sutera family was not new to the outdoors, but Nancy’s high school friend, a former NOLS instructor, recommended exploring the Rockies while learning the invaluable skills and wilderness ethics on a NOLS course.
Nancy, Peter and Joy experienced western backcountry through Wind River Wilderness coursesWRW Courses and were able to travel similar terrain and crossed the continental divide. Justin was farther north in the Big Horn on a Wyoming Adventure CourseADR Courses , but despite being in different locations Nancy expressed how they all shared the enriching “common experience” of a NOLS course. Nancy spoke highly of the outdoor skills training, but in particular appreciated the emphasis on Leave No Trace (LNT) and Expedition Behavior (EB), the cornerstones in wilderness ethics that were impressed upon her children.
For siblings like Joy and Peter, living in the same house can be hectic, but these two Suteras bonded like the rest of their “course-mates” for what turned out to be an eye opening month in the outdoors. Joy, 19, described feeling incredibly “competent and confident” after her 16 and Over Wind River Wilderness course and has found a newfound interest in wilderness medicine complementing her studies as a biology major on a pre-med track at State University of New York Geneseo.
Now that the course is done, Nancy has returned to her dental practice with her husband Paul, Joy and Justin will be returning to school and Peter is starting State University of New York Binghamton in the fall. Like most NOLS graduates, the Suteras will take their month long experience with them wherever they go and will continue to be a family of NOLS supporters. Future NOLS courses are on the horizon for the Suteras, possibly bringing the whole family on an alumni course along with their youngest Lena,13, who has yet to take a NOLS course and join the new Sutera family tradition.