What I learned on my NOLS course…

Students from the Robertson Scholars Program recently returned from a week-long custom NOLS expedition in the canyonlands of Utah. The course focused on outdoor skills and learning and practicing leadership.

Here is what NOLS graduate and Robertson Scholar Kimberley Goffe had this to say:

“I think NOLS has a unique ability to improve self-assuredness, that specific subset of self-confidence where you trust yourself to do things you don’t really know how to do and believe in your abilities. I felt like I wasn’t good at any of the skills required to succeed at NOLS (navigation, cooking, hiking, carrying heavy stuff, etc.) and I didn’t trust myself to really try them, for fear of disappointing or holding back my group. I eventually had to try them and it turned out I wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought.There were no miracles (I didn’t turn into Iron Chef, nor did I develop muscles overnight) but I learned that if I trust myself to try, I can perform at a higher level than I would have expected.”